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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/otherfamoushomesOOmala 



Jfamous Ibomes of (Breat Britain 


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mearls 200 f llustratione 






OTHERFAMOVS HOMES 

OF 

GREAT BRITAIN 

AND 

THEIR STORIES 





EDITED BY 

A. H. MALAN 





WOLLATON HALL 
DUNVEGAN CASTLE 
CASTLE 

BROMWICH 
CASTLE HOWARD 
OSTERLEY PARK 
CLUMBER 



AUDLEY END 
DUNROBIN CASTLE 

STONELEIGH 
DALKEITH PALACE 
ST. MICHAEL'S 

MOUNT 
STOWE 




ILLUSTRATED 





G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 
MCMII 



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PREFACE 

. That the public has called for a third series of Famous 
Homes of Great Britain, in the little space of eighteen months, 
is evidence enough, if evidence be needed, to prove how quick 
and how widespread is the interest in these treasure-houses of 
England. This success can be no surprise to those concerned 
in the direction of the Pall Mall Maga:{ine. Since its early 
numbers these articles have been among its most popular con- 
tents. For this reason the present Editor of the Magazine may 
be pardoned a certain pride of paternity, and in a few words may 
be allowed to deal with some aspects of the subject not directly 
treated in the articles that follow. 

Written as they are, in =some instances by the owners, in 
others by those closely associated with the reigning families, the 
articles themselves err only in their modesty. The familiarity 
which comes of long intimacy must blunt the sense of admiration 
and wonder however much it may strengthen the bonds of 
affection. It happens then that a complete estimate of the 
artistic value of these houses and their contents can hardly be 
expected from those who regard both with the eye of ownership. 
No man, least of all an Englishman, is in the way of boasting 
of his possessions. Even had such detailed enumerations and 
estimates been within the purpose of the writers, the scope of 
the articles and their method of publication precluded anything 
of the kind. Only the barest reference to particular collections 
and individual works of art could be made, and the informed 
reader, falling back upon imagination and then multiplying tenfold 



iv {preface 

or twenty-fold, can hardly exaggerate the value or the artistic 
importance of one or the other. It may, in short, be taken as 
true that not seldom the mansion, built with a generous ex- 
penditure and growing under the hands of its successive owners, 
is after all simply the casket that holds the gem. Further, it 
should be noted with satisfaction that these houses are in a 
large sense the property of the public. Private ownership happily 
has never depreciated the value of their treasures as a means of 
historical and artistic study. Scattered throughout the length 
and breadth of the land, their doors always stand open to the 
student. With praiseworthy unanimity the owners and occupiers 
have come to regard themselves as trustees and custodians for 
the public weal. What younger nations, later in their awakening 
to artistic life, are striving to do in their museums and public 
galleries has already been done for this country by the aristocracy 
of England. As the monks of old kept the lamp of learning 
alight, so those good Knights and Gentlemen, not seldom con- 
noisseurs of learning and taste, performed an incalculable service 
to the arts in the dark days of artistic history. They lavished 
their wealth with a large unselfishness upon the purchase of 
sculpture and pictures that their descendants might be surrounded 
by the influences that make for the perfect life. One can trace 
nothing of the commercial spirit in these transactions. Pictures 
were not bought to sell again at a profit. Clearly it was 
understood then, better than we understand it in these days 
of business enterprise, that by the cultivation of his taste and 
in his surrender to the exquisite creations of the artist and the 
craftsman a man may add a dignity to his life which neither 
title nor wealth can bestow. And so it comes that the scramble 
for the great masterpieces of the world, pursued in hot haste 
by all the nations, need not disturb us. Great Britain, by favour 
of her governing classes, possesses artistic treasures — pictures, 



preface v 

sculpture, and articles of virtu — in a series of private galleries 
which no other country can hope to rival. Some day the new 
democracy, with its later hope and its higher zeal, will recognise 
its debt, in this respect, to these old families of England. 

Unfortunately, in the worthy ambition of handing on a 
fitting heritage many a nobleman seriously impoverished himself. 
Under stress of circumstances, collections have been dispersed 
under the hammer, and there are notorious instances where 
heirlooms have been sold to make good the losses of foolish 
youth at the card-table and on the race-course. But the broad 
fact remains that family pride keeps jealous ward over these 
collections. There are many tales of sacrifice by sons and 
daughters in the eagerness to regain a masterpiece of which 
poverty or improvidence had for the time deprived them. 

In portraiture especially, these private galleries of England 
are singularly rich. Man is a vain animal, and before the days 
of photography there was nothing for it but the patronage of 
the portrait-painter of the day. It seems to have been a point 
of honour in some families to encourage this branch of art, often, 
one may surmise, rather for the credit of the family than for the 
encouragement of the art. Certainly not only the great painters 
but often — alas! too often — the little painters, found in them 
their ready patrons. But it cannot be doubted also that many 
of the countless Van Dycks, Holbeins, Knellers, and Lelys (to 
mention no others) must have been commissioned in dark hours 
when the family purse could ill bear the strain upon it. The 
fashionable portrait-painter in the seventeenth century, for ex- 
ample, was a greater personage, whether in Paris or London, 
than he is at the beginning of the twentieth century. Thus, 
in 162s, on the eve of great events, we fmd the Duke of 
Buckingham at Osterley Park, disbursing /soo "given to Mr. 
Rubens for drawing his Lordship's picture on horseback." This 



vi preface 

was a princely price in those parsimonious times, and all the 
evidence points to the fact that the fees to the great painters of 
the day, from Van Dyck downwards, were in the same pro- 
portion. The value of these portraits as historical documents is 
enormous. Even where they do not quite touch the higher 
realms of art, they still preserve an accurate record of the 
costume and life of the period, besides filling up in family 
histories the gaps which are the despair of genealogy. If Dal- 
keith Palace (included in the present volume) be taken as an 
example, we get at once some idea of the wealth and extent 
of portraiture in these treasure houses. Here then are portraits 
by Holbein, Van Dyck, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Sir Thomas 
Lawrence, Kneller, Lely, Sir William Beechey, Wilkiej and Jame- 
sone (nicknamed the Scottish Van Dyck). It would be possible 
to write a history of portraiture from the Dalkeith Palace pictures 
alone. And they are only a few items in a. collection which 
includes many celebrated old masters, and in which one room is 
decorated by twenty-five sketches by Guardi let into panels for 
the wall. The discrimination and taste which selected Guardi 
rather than Canaletto for this work, are worthy of recognition 
by the modern art critics. 

It need scarcely be said that these art treasures have ex- 
perienced vicissitudes in which the affront of the auctioneer's 
hammer is not the least. But not often have they suffered the 
fate of the Duke of Buckingham's pictures by Rubens. For 
these, Lady Jersey tells us, he had paid no less than /io,ooo. 
it was an evil hour for the galleries at Osterley Park when his 
son, the second Duke, found himself a fugitive Royalist at Ant- 
werp with empty pockets. He remembered the Rubens pictures, 
and a trusty servant was commissioned to send them to him. 
Of course they found a ready market, but it is difficult to believe 
that works sold under such circumstances fetched more than 



preface vii 

a nominal price. Tiie transaction is one to make the modern 
picture-dealer green with envy. When again will the master- 
pieces of Rubens fall from the skies in this erratic fashion to bring 
fortune to some Antwerp Jew with a taste for art and antiquities ? 
But in this case the romance was not ended, and Osterley Park 
was not finally deprived of all its treasures. A hundred years 
later, when Sir Francis Child had bought the house, he travelled 
in the Low Countries, and there he had the luck to stumble upon 
the Rubens portrait of the first Duke, and promptly restored it, 
by the power of purse, to its old place at Osterley Park. 

Another famous picture, that of the Duke and Duchess of 
Norfolk by Lucas de Heere, in the Picture Gallery at Audley End 
had even a stranger history. For some reason the canvas was 
cut down the middle, severing the figures and dividing the coat- 
of-arms in the centre. Then the pictures parted and went on 
their travels for many generations, to meet at last, by the mere 
accident of the hanging committee, in the Royal Academy's 
Exhibition of 1885. Strange, too, is the story of the Van Dyck 
at Stoneleigh, concealed by some vandal owner who probably 
desired to preserve it from his creditors and who thereupon 
employed an artist (save the mark ! ) to cover it over with a 
painting of flowers. Years later, by one of those happy chances 
that have restored more than one masterpiece to the light of 
day. Sir George Beaumont discovered it under its screen of paint. 
Philistinism of this kind is inexplicable, but one imagines that 
the love of whitewash which defaced so many of the old churches 
of England must have affected also the Earl of Suffolk, who, in 
1603, had the temerity to cover with white paint the magnificent 
carved screen at Audley End. An accident of another kind had 
a more deadly effect upon the art collection at Wollaton Hall. 
On the facade of the house the architect had left a series of niches 
to be filled with statues. These had been purchased in Italy, 



viii preface 

but the ship which bore them was wrecked on its way, and the 
empty spaces, gaping to the air, testify, not to the sculptor's 
art, but to the dominance of the winds and waves. 

Sometimes, it may be conceded, these houses have for a 
period of their history fallen upon evil times, it is not given to 
everybody to be endowed with taste, and history records the 
name of more than one rich man who has been denied entrance 
into the Kingdom of Art. When such an one becomes master 
of a great mansion renowned for the majesty of its artistic 
possessions, the hour of peril is at hand. The Philistine and the 
Vandal have both worked their will on many of these famous 
homes. Thus, at Castle Howard, the most stately creation of 
Sir John Vanbrugh, the central Hall is debased by its frescoes, 
and the mythological statues that line the walls have nothing 
but age to recommend them. But the museum and picture 
galleries are among the richest in England and one can forget 
much in a mansion that holds Van Dyck's portrait of Snyders 
and many another gem from the Orleans collection. Nor is it 
possible at Osterley Park to become enthusiastic over the decora- 
tions in the Pompeian style by Angelica Kauffmann, or greatly 
to admire the Hall at Castle Bromwich, painted by some artist 
who either was La Guerra of the Louvre or an imitator of that 
flamboyant decorator. These are but instances which could be 
multiplied indefinitely. Fortunately, it is possible always to 
consign the mediocre picture or the commonplace statue to its 
fitting niche in the lumber-room and if the frescoes and wall 
paintings are more assertive and more enduring, the hallowing 
hand of Time may be relied on for certain improvement. 

The future of these houses is not likely to be disturbed by 
vandalism. The British aristocracy is more susceptible to con- 
temporary ideas than some of its critics imagine. Certain it is 
that the modern advance in artistic knowledge and in the canons 



preface ix 

of taste — now deeply impressed upon English character — found 
its earliest welcome among the gentle folks to whom these 
houses belong. Vulgar decoration is a menace which passed 
away in the mid-Victorian period. If one can scent a danger 
ahead, it seems to lie in the opposite extreme, — in a too close 
imitation of the styles identified with Chippendale and Sheraton, 
a timid reticence which might conceivably fail to adapt itself 
either to the florid or to the classical in architecture. But the 
nameless charm of these " Famous Homes " will remain unsoiled. 
Its essence lies, not in any work of art, not, assuredly, in the 
triumph, however lofty, of any architect, but in the slow growth 
of a history, upon which is impressed the characters and the 
thoughts of those who found there a home and who gathered 
around them, with each step in their lives, the romantic associa- 
tions of the years. 

George R. Halkett. 

London, July i , iqoi. 



CONTENTS 



Wollaton Hall Lady Middleton i 

Situated in Nottingham, and is one of the homes of Lord Middleton. 
The author of this article is Lady Middleton, daughter of Sir Alexander 
Penrose Gordon-Cumming. Wollaton Hall is known as the master- 
piece of John Thorpe of Padua, for he, with the assistance of Sir 
Francis Willughby, completed the building operations in eight years. 
The stone was brought from Ancaster on the backs of mules and 
horses, and paid for in returned coal — not cash. Queen Bess visited 
here in July of i S75. Queen Adelaide when paying a visit to the house 
on one occasion exclaimed "that it ought to be put in a glass case," 
so beautiful an edifice is the whole structure. Anne of Denmark, her 
son — Prince Charles — and Oliver Cromwell, were among many notable 
visitors, while Ray — the Naturalist — studied and experimented in the 
grounds. One of the stateliest homes of Europe, with its gorgeous 
gardens, lakes, fountains, and park. 

Dunvegan Castle A. H. Malan 35 

Situated in the Isle of Skye, N. B., and is the home of MacLeod of 
MacLeod, the twenty-second chief of MacLeod, into whose family it 
was brought by Leod's marriage early in the thirteenth century with 
the heiress of Macraild Armuinn, the Dane. The Castle is believed to 
be the oldest inhabited private house in Scotland. Dunvegan is most 
interesting from its extreme antiquity, its countless associations, and 
its isolation, standing as it does on an inaccessible spot amongst the 
storm-swept Hebrides. Many legends of the West Highlands centre 
round this time-grey Castle. 



Xll 



Content0 



PAGE 



Castle Bromwich . . The Countess of Bradford 65 

Situated five miles from Birmingham, and is one of the seats of the 
Earl of Bradford, who married Lady Ida A. Frances, daughter of the 
ninth Earl of Scarborough, the author of this article. The present Earl 
of Bradford succeeded to the title in 1898. The Castle is as perfect a 
specimen of the Elizabethan manor-house as is to be found in England. 
Having been built at one time and having escaped modern additions 
and so-called " improvements," it is much now as it was when it left 
the builders' hands. Every detail of the house and gardens is exquisite. 

Castle Howard . Lord Ronald Sutherland Cower 95 

Situated in Yorkshire and is one of the seats of the Earl of Carlisle. 
It was brought into the family by Lord William Howard — third son of 
the fourth Duke of Norfolk — -through his marriage with Elizabeth, 
daughter of Thomas, and sister and co-heir of Lord George Dacre, 
for whom Castle Howard was built by Sir John Vanbrugh. This is 
one of Vanbrugh's enormous ponderous palaces. It will be remem- 
bered that a contemporary wit suggested as his epitaph 

" Oh earth lie light on him ! for he 

Hath laid some grievous burdens upon thee." 

In spite of their extreme heaviness these immense piles of Vanbrugh 
have great stateliness, owing to their vast dimensions — Castle Howard 
is larger even than Blenheim, and is, on the whole, a more favourable 
example of Vanbrugh's style. 

Osterley Park .... The Countess of Jersey 121 

Situated in Middlesex, nine miles from Hyde Park Corner, and is the 
home of the seventh Earl of Jersey, late Governor of N. S. Wales. 
The Countess of Jersey — the author of this article — is a daughter of 
the Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh. Osterley dates from the fifteenth 
century, and was granted by Queen Elizabeth to the renowned mer- 
chant of London, Sir Thomas Gresham, in whose charge the Queen 
placed her cousin, little Lady Mary Grey. Her Majesty honoured Sir 
Thomas with frequent visits at Osterley. In 1661, his daughter was 
married in Osterley Chapel to Sir Philip Harcourt, ancestor of Sir 
William Vernon Harcourt, M. P. The house was, however, com- 
pletely remodelled in the eighteenth century, is full of most 
beautiful pictures, tapestries, and bric-a-brac, and the gardens 
are ideal. In spite of its very plain exterior, it is one of the master- 



Contents xiii 

PAGE 

pieces of the Brothers Adam. The decoration of the interior is singu- 
larly beautiful and stately, and a student of architecture will notice 
the wonderful sense of proportion displayed by Adam — a sense which 
our modern architects seem to have entirely lost. Osterley is, perhaps, 
the finest existing example of a pure " Adam " house. 

Clumber The Duchess of Newcastle 143 

Situated in Nottinghamshire, and is the home of the Duke of New- 
castle. In 1709, the fourth Duke of Clare — grandson of the great 
William Cavendish —received permission to enclose a portion of 
Sherwood Forest. He died in 171 1, however, and left it to his sis- 
ter's son — second Baron Pelham, who was created Marquess of Clare 
and Duke of Newcastle. The present mansion was built in the middle 
of the eighteenth century, on a site formerly occupied by the Shooting 
Box of the Dukes of Newcastle. 

Audley End Elizabeth J. Savile 173 

Situated in Essex. Built in stone by the first Earl of Suffolk in 1603. 
The architect is believed to have been John Thorpe. King James 
visited the Mansion in 16 10, and again four years later. Queen 
Elizabeth visited it when it was the property of the Duke of Norfolk, 
and Samuel Pepys also stayed there. In 1670, it was purchased by 
Charles 11., and his Court was established at "this new Palace." 
William of Orange slept here on November 26, 1670, and as William 
III., purchased it. It is now the home of Lord Braybrooke, and is a 
very characteristic specimen of a stately Jacobean Palace. 

Dunrobin Castle . Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower 209 

Situated in Sutherland, and is one of the homes of the Duke of Suther- 
land. The author— Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower — is the youngest 
son of the second Duke and cousin to the Duke of Argyll. He is 
an excellent artist and sculptor, and the author of many books. The 
Castle has been in the possession of the Sutherland family for many 
centuries. The late Queen Victoria was very partial to Dunrobin 
Castle, and an admirable description, written by herself, of her visits 
is recorded in this article. The Castle is a vast modern palace with 
beautiful gardens — The Duke of Sutherland is said to be able to ride 
fifty miles from Dunrobin without leaving his own lands. 



xiv Contents 

PAGE 

Stoneleigh . . . The Hon. Mary Cordelia Leigh 245 

Situated in the beautiful Vale of Avon, Warwickshire, and is one of 
the seats of the Leigh family. It was originally an Abbey and on 
the suppression of the Monasteries, Henry VI!I. granted it to his 
brother-in-law, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. After passing to 
another branch of the family it was bought by Sir Thomas Leigh 
who was Lord Mayor of London at the coronation of Queen 
Elizabeth. He had been apprenticed in his youth to Sir Rowland 
Hill, an Alderman of the City of London, and in due course married 
his Master's niece Alice, and from this marriage the present noble 
family of Leigh is descended. Stoneleigh is rich in historical records, 
and is noted for its famous deer park, while under the branches of one 
of its old trees — "Shakespeare's Oak " — tradition says the "bard of 
Avon " composed some of his immortal plays. The author of this ar- 
ticle is the daughter of Baron Leigh, and a sister of the Countess of 
Jersey. 

Dalkeith Palace Lord Henry Scott 271 

Situated in Dalkeith, Scotland, and is one of the seats of the Duke of 
Buccleuch. It is of considerable antiquity and was known as 
"Dalkeith Castle" previous to isyS- King David 1. gave the manor 
of Dalkeith to William de Graham in the twelfth century. His 
ancestors held the Castle for seven generations, and in the fourteenth 
century it passed to his sister Marjory, who married Sir William 
Douglas. King David II. granted a charter to the latter's descendant, 
Sir James Douglas, and in 1369, he was created Baron Dalkeith. 
The palace, though externally a plain building, is a real treasure house 
of precious things. It contains a superb collection of pictures, and 
some of the finest Louis XIV. furniture in existence. The interior of 
the house was decorated some two hundred years ago in the most 
lavish and elaborate manner. A student of architecture would be 
interested to note the unusual combinations of white and coloured 
marbles, oak panelling and carving, and coloured glass which have 
been employed with the happiest and most novel effect. The muni- 
ment room contains a vast store of manuscripts and relics bearing on 
Scottish History. Here is kept the great bowl known as the " Ban- 
nock-Cup, " the six century old banner of the Scott family known as 
the " Bellenden Banner, " and countless other objects of antiquarian 
interest. The park is of exceptional beauty, and the rocky glens and 
magnificent timber strike a visitor with astonishment, as Dalkeith now 



Contents xv 

PAGE 

Stands in the centre of a colliery district with its attendant clouds of 
smoke, and all the unlovely concomitants of modern industrialism. 
The contrast therefore is very great between the smoke begrimed 
country outside the park wall, and the beautiful scenery inside the 
enclosure. 

St. Michael's Mount . Major, The Hon. John St. Aubyn 297 

Situated on an island standing in Mount's Bay, West Cornwall. 
Since !6s7 "'The Mount" has been the property of the St. Aubvn 
fiimily. The author of this article — Major, the Hon. John St. 
Aubyn — is the eldest son of the first Baron St. Levan, and married 
Lady Edith Hilaria, daughter of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. The 
Mount is entirely surrounded by the sea at high tide, but is accessible at 
low tide by a causeway from Marazion, the distance being about five 
hundred yards. The earliest history is that by Diodorus, who wrote 
half a century preceding the Christian era. The Mount is of interest 
not only from its great age, but from its absolutely unique position, 
built, as it is, on a tiny rocky islet in the open Atlantic — the rock is 
so small that when additions have been required to the house the only 
means of making these has been to excavate the new rooms from the 
live granite rock, under the existing Castle. During the winter storms 
access to the mainland is frequently cut off. 

Stowe John Orlando Hartes 327 

Situated in Buckinghamshire. Once the home of the Dukes of Buck- 
inghamshire and Chandos, and. for a few years the residence of the 
Comte de Paris, but now the seat of the third Duke of Buckingham's 
widowed daughter — Baroness Kinross. The present house was 
built by Sir Richmond Temple, who was ultimately succeeded by 
George Grenville, the latter being created Marquess of Buckingham 
in 1784. In 1822, his successor married the only daughter and 
heiress of the last Duke of Chandos, and was created the Duke of 
Buckingham and Chandos. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



St. Michael's Mount 



Frontispiece 



Wollaton Hall 



Wollaton Hall from the Terrace Lawn . 

Wollaton Hall 

The Terrace Front 

Wollaton in the Days of Orange William 
Winter Rime ...... 

The Great Hall, Wollaton, with Screen and Minstrels' Gallery 
The Great Hall, Wollaton, showing Stone Screen 
Another Aspect of the Great Hall, Wollaton . 

In the Armoury, Wollaton Hall 

A Corner of the Lake 

Francis Willoughby, of Wollaton, the Famous Natural Phi 
osopher 

From the Bust in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
From a Photograph by Steam, Cambridge. 

The Rosary at Wollaton 

Wollaton Hall Gate 

The Lime Avenue, Wollaton. 

The Terrace Garden, Wollaton 

The Lawn Fountains, Wollaton 

Distant View of Wollaton Hall 

In the Park at Wollaton 

A Corner of the Camellia House 



3 
5 
6 

7 
8 

9 
1 1 

13 
15 
17 

i8 



19 

21 

23 
25 
27 
29 

31 
32 



XVlll 



■fllluetrations 



Dunvegan Castle 

Illustrated from Special PJiotographs by the Rev. A. H. Malaii 

Sunset, from the Watch-Tower 

The Keep, from the North, showing old Rampart 
Dunvegan Castle from the Beach . . . . ., . 
Dunvegan Castle 

After the Engraving in Grose's " Antiquities. " 

East Aspect of Dunvegan Castle 

Dining-room, Dunvegan Castle, showing Portrait of General 

Norman MacLeod and his Second Wife ; and the Colours 

of the 2nd Battalion, 42nd Regiment 

Dunvegan Cup 

The Fairy Room, showing Newel Stairs 
View from the Drawing-Room, Dunvegan 

down to Sea Gate .... 
Mister Crotach's Tomb in Rodel Church 
The Dining- Room, Dunvegan Castle . 
Old Armour and Swords 
Arms of Ian Breac, Sixteentli Chief 
Dunvegan Castle, West Front, from the Sea 

Rodel Church 

Crofters' Huts at Obbe . . . 
Insignia of the Chief .... 



Castle, looking 



^^7 

39 

41 
42 

43 



4^ 
.46 

47 

49 

51 

53 

54 
56 

59 
61 
52 
64 



Castle Bromwich 



Castle Bromwich, South Front . , . . . 
Castle Bromwich 

From an Old Water Colour. 

The Porch, Castle Bromwich . ... 
The West Front, Castle Bromwich, showing the Cross 



^1 

68 

69 

73 



miustrations 



XIX 



The Hall, Castle Bromwich, showing Oak Panelling 

A Corner of the Hall, Castle Bromwich 

The Drawing-Room, Castle Bromwich 

A Corner of the Drawing-Room, Castle Bromwich 

The Gallery, Castle Bromwich .... 

The Rose Walk . . 

The Holly Walk, showing One-Third of its Length 

Castle Bromwich, South Front .... 

The Stables, Castle Bromwich .... 



75 
77 
79 
8i 

83 
86 

87 
89 

91 



Castle Howard 

Castle Howard, from the Lake .... 

The Hall, Castle Howard 

Castle Howard, South Front .... 
Frederick Howard, Sixth Earl of Carlisle 

After a Draiving by Edridge. 

Frederick, Fifth Earl of Carlisle .... 

After a Pastel hy G. Haviiltoii, iyy2. 

The Bridge, Castle Howard 

Caroline Cower, Countess of Carlisle in 1772 

After the Pastel by G. Hamilton at Castle Howard. 

Castle Howard from the South-east 
Temple, with Mausoleum in the Distance . 
Temple at End of the Green Terrace . . . 
The Chapel, Castle Howard . . . 

This Chapel ivas Decorated by C. E. Kevip. 

Grass Terraces at Castle Howard .... 
Antique Bronze Statuette of Hercules, discovered 

Naworth 

The Library, Castle Howard 

The Fifth Earl of Carlisle . . . . . 

By Sir Joshua Reynolds. 



near 



97 

98 

99 
102 

103 

105 
107 

108 
109 

1 10 

1 1 1 

113 

114 

115 
1 16 



XX 



miustrations 



The Dining-Hall, Castle Howard 



117 





. 12^ 


. . 


'. 125 




. no 




. 131 




. 133 




.115 




. n8 


in Tapestries 


. . 139 



Osterley Park 

Osterley from the Lake . 

Osterley, showing Main Front 

The Stables, Osterley . 

The Dining-Room, Osterley . 

The State Bed ... . 

The Drawing-Room, Osterley 

Osterley, from the Shrubbery 

The Boudoir, Osterley, showing Gobel 

Clumber 

With Special Photographs by the Duke of Newcastle 

Clumber . . . 
Clumber, the South Front 
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 

By Richardson. 

Clumber, the West Front 

Rubens's Wife 

ylfter the Picture by Rubens. 

The Bridge at Clumber .... 
View of House and Church from the Bridge 
The Lincoln Terrace, Clumber 
The State Drawing-Room, Clumber 
The Yellow Drawing-Room, Clumber . 
" Beggar Boys " 

After the Picture by Gainsborough. 

William Cavendish, First Duke of Newcastle 

By Dobsoii. 

The Library, Clumber . 



• ■ . . • H^ 


. 147 


, 148 


. . . .149 


. 151 


.... 153 


. IS5 


. 157 


. .159 


. . . . 161 


... 163 


I : . . 164 


. 165 



miustvations 



XXI 



The Red Drawing-Room, Clumber 167 

Napoleon 168 

By Can ova. 

The Billiard-Room, Clumber 169 

Apleyhead Lodge, Clumber . 171 

Audley End 

Illustrated from Special Photographs by the Rev. A. H. Malan 

The Western Front of Audley End . . . . .175 
The Original House as built by the Earl of Suffolk . -177 

From an Old Print. 

The Entrance Porch . . . . . . . .178 

Oak Screen in the Hall, Audley End 179 

Southern End of the Hall, Audley End 183 

Portrait of Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk . . .188 
Oak Carving in Hall, Pope's Chair, and Portraits of Lord 
Chancellor Audley, Thomas, Fourth Duke of Norfolk, 

and Lady Katherine Grey 189 

Portraits of Elizabeth, Countess of Portsmouth, Lord Howard 

de Walden, and the Hon. Mrs. Whitwell 
The Saloon, Audley End .... 
A Corner of the Saloon, Audley End 
The Picture Gallery, Audley End . 
Eastern Side of Audley End . 



Dunrobin Castle 



192 
195 
199 
203 
205 



A Portion of the Old Castle of Dunrobin . . . .211 
The Old Castle of Dunrobin 213 

From a Drawing by the Duchess-Countess of Sutherland. 

Dunrobin from the Sea 214 

The Bridge, Golspie ; Meeting-Place of the Clan Sutherland 216 



XXII 



miustiations 



The Bridge in Golspie Glen . 

Golspie Glen, near Dunrobin Castle 

Dunrobin Castle and its Gardens . 

Dunrobin Castle from Strathsteven 

The Gardens, Dunrobin 

Duchess Harriet's Memorial, Dunrobin, of which 

Foundation Stone was laid by the Queen . 
Harriet, Second Duchess of Sutherland 

Bust by Mathew Noble. 

The Front Garden, Dunrobin .... 
Mary Stuart 

From the Or/niev Picture at Dunrobin. 

Statue by "Noble of the Second Duke, at Dunrobin 

Upper Terrace, Dunrobin Gardens 

Gardens at Dunrobin 

Stoneleigh and its Memories 

Stoneleigh Abbey and the Avon, from the South-east . 
Ancient Doorway and Staircase in the old Abbey 

Stoneleigh House 

Gables of the Old Abbey 

The Abbey from the Garden 

The Old Gatehouse, Stoneleigh Abbey . 

The Abbey and the River Avon . 

" Stoneleigh Abbey," from an old Picture 

Old Abbey — North-west Corner — seen from 

The Abbey and Garden 

Stare Bridge, Stoneleigh Deer Park 

" The Pretty Housemaid " 

Old and New Abbey .... 

AshowXhurch 

"North Lodge " Stoneleigh Deer Park 



the 



the Courtyard 



217 
21Q 
22 1 

227 
231 

2M 

217 
238 

240 
241 
242 



247 
250 

2SI 
2S1 
2S4 

256 
258 
259 
261 
2^3 

264 
265 
266 
267 



■flUustrations 



XXI 11 



Dalkeith Palace 



Front View of Dalkeith Palace 271 

From a Pliolograph by IV. Mitchell, Dalkeith. 

View from the Library Window, Dalkeith Palace . . 273 

From a Photograph by W. Mitchell, Dalkeith. 

Dalkeith Palace from the East 275 

From a Photograph by W. Mitchell, Dalkeith. 

\w the old Caledonian Forest . . . . . . 277 

From a Photograph by W. Mitchell, Dalkeith. 

The Monmouth Cabinet 279 

The Library, Dalkeith Palace 281 

From a Photograph by W. Mitchell, Dalkeith. 

The Gallery, Dalkeith Palace 283 

From a Photograph by J. Balmaiu, Edinburgh. 

Charles, Earl of Dalkeith, by Sir Joshua Reynolds . . 284 

Kiioicn as " The Pink Boy. " 

The Dining-Room, Dalkeith Palace, in which General Monk 

planned the Restoration ...... 285 

From a Photograph by J. Balmaiu, Edinburgh. 

Lady Caroline Scott, afterwards Marchioness of Queens- 
berry .......... 286 

By Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

The Marble Hall, Dalkeith Palace 287 

From a Photograph by J. Balmain, Edinburgh. 

Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch ...... 288 

By Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

The Dalkeith Holbein ; Portrait of Sir Nicholas Carew . 280 
Painting by Canaletto, at Dalkeith Palace , . . . 2Q1 
The Duchess of Montagu 292 

By Gainsborough. 

The Duchess's Sitting-Room, Dalkeith Palace . . .293 

From a Photograph by J. Balmain, Edinburgh. 



XXIV 



llllustration0 



Sophia Campbell, Lady de ClilTord 

By Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

The Canaletto Room, Dalkeith Palace . 

From a Photograph by J. Balinaiii, Edinburgh. 

St. Michael's Mount 



• 294 

. 295 



St. Michael's Mount at High Water 

St. Michael's Mount at Low Water 

Cemetery Gate and Entrance Lodge, St. Michael's 

The Pathway to the Castle .... 

The Chapel, from the North Court 

The Chevy Chase Room, St. Michael's Mount 

Looking West from the Parapet of the North 

Michael's Mount .... 
The New Buildings, St. Michael's Mount 
A Family Party Hauling the Seine 
Looking East from the Battery 
St. Michael's Chair .... 
The View Seaward from St. Michael's Mount 



Mount 



Court, St. 



299 
^01 
303 
;o6 
307 
311 

313 
315 
317 
319 
321 

323 



St 



owe 



The North Front of Stowe . . . . ' . 
The Avenue leading to Corinthian Arch, Stowe . 
The Palladian Bridge, Stowe Gardens . 

The Corinthian Arch 

The South Front of Stowe . . . , . 

A Corner of the North Hall, Stowe 

The State Dining-Room, Stowe, showing Tapestries 

The Grenville Column 

The State Drawing-Room, Stowe . . 
Oxford Lodge 



329 

333 



335 



337 
339 
340 

Ml 

342 



■flllustrations xxv 

PAGE 

The Library at Stowe 343 

"Temple of Concord and Victory," Stowe. Cedars planted 

by Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort in 1848 . 344 

The Marble Saloon, Stowe . 345 

The Gothic Temple, Stowe Park 347 

Certain of the photographs illustrating this article are by Mr. L. Varney, Photographer, Bucl<ingham. 



MoUaton Iball 




WOLLATON HALL FROM THE TERRACE LAWN 



WOLLATON HALL 



BY LADY MIDDLETON 



"The ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad." — Book of Psalms. 



WE quoted this as we stood one evening and looked over 
tile lal<e's end at old Jolm of Padua's masterpiece. 
And lo ! as we lool<ed, tlie rays of tlie setting sun 
struck the marvellous fenestration of that dainty pile till the 
r wrought-gold garbing of the king's daughter seemed but a pallid 
simile, and the ivory palace stood on its hill in a blaze of splen- 
dour, while the lake-waters below us mirrored that glory in a 
lustre well-nigh as brilliant as its own. "To what can one com- 
pare it ?" said we breathlessly. " A gorgeous gas illumination ! " 
"A splendid transformation scene!" spoke two, of urban soul, 

3 



4 Mollaton Iball 

simultaneously. "Nay, but electric light through topaz," said a 
more poetic imaginer. But we refused such material sugges- 
tions. "Mother," said a child— " see ! the sun has gone to bed 
inside Wollaton ! " 

Flash and blaze, shine and shimmer, glitter and glow ; now 
the light melted into pale radiances, now gleamed like yellow 
diamonds, and then would fuse into rosy blendings. How ex- 
quisite, how astounding was each effect, as every pane of the 
great windows caught the sinking sunbeams ! 

Not till the bitter nip of evening frost caught our throats and 
noses could we tear ourselves thence, and move on to where the 
glory passed, and, still lovely, but calm now and .placid, the 
Dream Palace stood against the November sky. 

Crusty old Camden, who accused the builder of ostentation, 
and desire to show his great wealth ! What mere parade of vain- 
glory could have inspired such a creation in architecture ? what 
poor pride of place, and consciousness even of kingly kinship, 
could have produced a Wollaton ? 

Nought, truly, but a pure love of the beautiful in art, a 
knowledge, a true taste, could set stone by stone to such attun- 
ing, during the eight years that John Thorpe of Padua and Francis 
Willughby worked together. 

It is possible that the owner — whose mother was Lady Anne 
Grey, aunt to the nine-days' Queen of England, and who, 
through that and other links, was kin to the Tudors — may have 
deemed his ancient house of Wollaton scarcely fitted for the en- 
tertainment of his illustrious connexions : though, indeed, 'twas 
that house Queen Bess visited, July 21, 1=^75. 

But no doubt Francis Willughby considered the accumula- 
tions of his minority well expended in erecting a home better 
suited to his estate, and to that of the kindly and distinguished 
relatives with whom was spent the childhood of the orphaned 



Mollaton Iball 



trio : Thomas, Francis himself, and Margaret, afterwards Lady 
Arundell of Wardour. 

If he felt this, who, gazing, shall blame ? 
That he spent, according to his descendant, Cassandra Wil- 
loLighby, Duchess of Chandos, "fourscore thousand pounds" — 
not reckoning value of stone, which was brought from Ancaster 
on the backs of mules and horses, and paid for in returned coal 
instead of cash — seems, considering what value such a sum re- 
presented in Elizabeth's 
time, a truly enormous 
expenditure for a sub- 
ject. 

But the result ! One 
cannot help agreeing 
with Queen Adelaide, 
who exclaimed, on see- 
ing the house, that " it 
ought to be put under a 
glass case ! " 

One cannot look at it awry : each side is perfect, each aspect 
novel ; whether witnessing such an effect as the one above de- 
scribed, or standing where the Scotch firs on Arbour Hill "rear 
their ardent heights " (so poetised by Mr. J. Russell Lowell), over- 
looking the swelling and dipping and tree-studded park to yonder 
towers upraised above their cedar terrace, and parterre of many- 
coloured flowers ; whether wandering on sunny lawns, beneath 
the fine details of architecture, noting the near effect of russet and 
golden staining on the lower bases, where ore-ooze adds richness 
to the old stones, on which a crawling spray of ivy is allowed to 
rise so far, but no farther ; or, yet again, roaming beyond the lake, 
to peer down a bough-hedged vista, and mark, over its shining, 
lily-strewn waters, the house standing in majestic command. 




THE TERRACE FRONT 



lo Mollaton Iball 

left most interesting manuscript excerpts from family papers in 
the study of her brother, Thomas (the first Lord Middleton), 
dated 1702. The manuscript in book form was recently recov- 
ered from descendants of the Chandos family in Ireland. Cas- 
sandra's second manuscript, promised, but, alas ! not forthcoming, 
might have touched on subjects of vv'hich the accounts are wholly 
lost : as a burst water-pipe, Hooding the floor of the Muniment- 
room, when many papers were soaked and spoiled by hasty dry- 
ing, and doubtless caused a great loss to the family archives. It 
might have told us something about the visit of Anne of Den- 
mark, and her son, Prince Charles ; and about Oliver Cromwell, 
in after years so fatal a foe to that Prince, being found the night 
after Naseby (or rather the second night — considering the dis- 
tance) by the old family nurse, who crept after him up-stairs at 
Wollaton, kneeling by his bedside, in full armour, engaged in 
prayer ; and about her (Cassandra's) own father, and her young 
brothers, who with herself doubtless imbibed knowledge at Mid- 
dleton and Wollaton, watching the experiments of Ray and his 
patron on the sap of trees, and learning natural history in pleas- 
antest ways. 

They were a wonderful race, these Willoughbys of Wolla- 
ton ; and he who would write their history has large stores to 
draw from, as that Muniment-room is a bewilderment to be- 
holders. 

But as this article is limited in length, and professes to be 
mainly on the house and its builder, we will pass with a touch 
such family worthies as the Lord Chief justice of the Second 
Edward's time, and that earlier Sir Richard who lies beside his 
wife in sculptured splendour in the old chapel at Willughby-on- 
the-Wolds ; also Hugh the priest, unlawful progenitor of the 
Willughbys of Risely (in Derbyshire), a spot now ignorant of their 
name ; also Sir Hugh, who married Marion de Freville, heiress 



12 Mollaton 1ball 

of Middleton, and brought Warwickshire lands into the family ; 
and whose noble will still lies in York Minster. And Henry, 
Knight Banneret of Stoke, in 1487 ; who was also a Knight of the 
Sepulchre, and accompanied his kinsman, the Marquis of Dorset, 
into Spain, intending to invade France ; and was the Sir Henry 
Willughby at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. 

There exists yet the parchment, sealed, — " Sir Jo. Willughby, 
his patent, when he was created Kt. Hospitaller at Jerusalem," 
IS2I, which sets forth that he had visited the Holy Shrine, Bethle- 
hem, Olivet, Calvary, etc. ; and he was probably the Sir J. 
Willughby who fought at Flodden field. 

His next brother, Sir Edward, was father to that second 
Henry who became heir to his grandfather, and marrying the 
Lady Anne Grey, daughter to the Marquis of Dorset and sister to 
the Duke of Suffolk (whose child was the ill-fated Lady Jane 
Grey), was, through her, father of Francis, the builder of Wolla- 
ton Hall. Henry Willughby outlived Lady Anne by two years, 
and was killed by the rebels at Norwich August 27, 1S46, and his 
three orphaned children were left to the care of their mother's 
relations, the Greys. Thomas Willughby, the eldest, married a 
daughter of " y^ Lord Paget," and died young, s. p. : Francis, the 
younger brother (and "builder"), and Margaret were removed 
to their nearest relations, the Greys, at Tyltey. Then, in iS55, 
Margaret went to the "Lady Elizabeth" at Hatfield; and three 
years later married Sir Matthew Arundell of Wardour. Francis 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Lyttleton of Frankley, 
against the wish of his sister. Lady Arundell, who went in for 
" Astronomical talk, and Mathematical books in v« Italian tongue," 
and appears to have been rather a formidable being ; while Lady 
Willughby, on her part, possessed a proud and passionate temper : 
the two ladies between them making life difhcult for Sir Francis. 

Queen Elizabeth proposed to visit the old house of Wollaton, 



14 )KIlollaton Iball 

— and the letter is still in existence from Sir Francis Knollys to its 
owner, saying : 

"You are not to defray Her Majesty, but rather y* you 
should give her some good present of beefs and muttons, and to 
keep a good Table yourself in some place . . . but you had 
need to consider how your provision of drink may hold out." 
This consideration for a subject's pocket was not usual with the 
Queen, and was probably a special mark of favour to her con- 
nexion ; since he could not plead impecuniosity ; and, indeed, is 
told by his adviser that his "number of servants [in attendance] 
should in no wise be less than fifty." 

The Duchess appears to have found among " y^ olde papers " 
no detailed account of Elizabeth's visit to Wollaton ; but it may 
have been this visit that proved to Francis the unfitness of the 
ancient building to hold his "great estate," and enable him to 
maintain the princely hospitality that seems to have been his 
pleasure. " He appears to have been of a very mild and sweet 
disposition, and a lover of hospitality," testifies his descendant. 
" But," says she, 

" Before Sir F. began to build I believe he had a great estate 
in money ; but before he had near finished building, it appears 
from y^ olde letters y^ he wanted money, and was thinking of 
selling estates to pay for it." 

A not uncommon result of large building : how little will 
experience instruct in like matters ! 

However, the great work, begun in is8o, was not completed 
till 1588, though Sir Francis seems to have entertained there at an 
earlier date. 

" Y^ old Hall [writes the Duchess of Chandos] was built near 
y^ Church ; what now remains of y^ old Building is turned into 
3 or 4 farm Houses, of which one is a quarter of a mile from y^ 
rest, w^'^ was y^ dairy house to y« old Hall. 




15 



i6 nmollaton Iball 

" Y<^ new House is placed upon a Hill, about half a mile from 
y« old Hall, from whence there is a very noble prospect of y^ 
country round it : one side of y^ House looks upon y^ Castle and 
town of Nottingham ; from another there is a fine view of Clifton 
House and gardens, y^ seat of Sir Gervas Clifton ; from y" other 
sides of y^ House there is a prospect of several Houses and little 
villages, and each corner and middle of y^ House, pretty near^ 
point to Churches, W^'^ are about 2 or 3 miles off. The House, 
itself is a very noble Pile of Building, but it being less easy to 
describe it by writing than by drawing, 1 design to place at y^ end 
of this Book, a draught, and a plan of it, and shall therefor only 
mention here y* Sir Francis Willughby began this Building [dates 
as above]. Y^ Master workmen w^'^ Built y^ House, he sent for 
out of Italy, as also most of y^ Stone figures w* adorn y^ House. 
All y'' Stone w^'^ it is built w'' was brought from Ancaster in Lin- 
colnshire by y^ people who dwelt there, and who exchanged their 
Stone, with Sir F. for his Cole, w* they carried back from Wolla- 
ton ; but notwithstanding y^ Stone and its carriage cost nothing 
but y^ return of Cole w''' Sir F. made for it, and y^ at y' time 
labourers' wages were very small, yet it appears by a very 
particular account of y^ Building w-'^ still remains in y*^ library 
yt y« Building of y^ House cost Sir F. W. four-score thousand 
pounds." 

This was a very large sum indeed, according to money values 
of Elizabeth's time. 

But the draft or drawing promised by Cassandra is not in her 
first volume. The plans are, 1 believe, among John Thorpe's 
designs in Sir John Soane's Museum ; and these at once settle the 
question of " Bedlam," that great top-storey tower so puzzling to 
architects ; for the original is there as at present realised. And 
the great strength of its supporting walls proves that weight was 
destined to be imposed on them. 




17 



i8 



MoIIaton Iball 



However questionable this top may appear, in point of archi- 
tectural fitness, there can be no question as to the dignity and 
grandeur imparted to the house thereby ; as also to its value in 
the landscape ; and old Hardwick and modern Mentmore both 
lose by their lower status ! 

The top room, modernly styled the Prospect Room because 
of the fine views embraced by its surrounding windows, is 
virtually useless, save as a sort of museum : the only approach to 

it — except, indeed, a small tur- 
ret stair from the lower leads — 
is by a sort of lighthouse-like 
winding stone staircase. 

" Bedlam " — so called from 
its being the bed-place of retain- 
ers, brought of yore in large 
numbers by dignified guests- 
is of the size of the Great Hall, 
but lower. 

At present it contains 
books ; old garments from Tu- 
dor days downwards (though 
FRANCIS wiLLouQHBY, OF woLLATON, THE the pick of the collectlou has 

FAMOUS NATURAL PHILOSOPHER 

(from THE BUST IN THE LIBRARY OF TRINITY COLLEGE, Cambridge) Deen lent Tor many years to tue 

PHOTO BY STEARN, CAMBRIDGE 

Nottingham Museum); State 
beds, unfortunately dismantled ; ancient Peruvian pottery, and 
relics of the natural philosopher, Francis Willoughby, the distin- 
guished father of our historian, her Grace of Chandos. 

It was the sixth Lord Middleton who, alas! in 1834, "took 
down the decayed wainscot in the Hall, and in my room, covered 
the walls with mastic, and painted them." He employed Sir 
Geoffrey Wyatt ("the Destroyer") to more or less remodel the 
interior of the house, and though, doubtless, general comfort was 





THE ROSARY AT WOLLATON 



19 



20 MoIIaton Iball 

increased, yet terrible breaches of taste were committed in the 
most costly fashion. The lattice windows, the old stair balus- 
trades, etc., all vanished. 

This sixth Lord Middleton, Henry, was a man of wealth, and 
of most independent and resolute character ; and the accounts of 
his sales and purchases of land and other dealings in £ s. d. 
would cover many pages. Among his lavish expenditures he 
built the big Lenton Lodge and the Camellia House, at a cost 
each of something like / 10,000. Wyatt added the present serv- 
ants' hall, honsekeeper's room, etc., and not at all to the detri- 
ment of the architectural effect. 

But to return to the building of Wollaton. It is. said the 
niches on the facades of the house were intended to hold statu- 
ettes, but tradition gives it that the ship bearing these from Italy 
was wrecked, and its cargo lost. Some of the busts in the round 
niches are of later insertion, for surely Charles 1. is there ! The 
enrichment to the already wealthy dccorc by those sunken images 
would have been wondrous. 

Among WyatLs changes must have been closing in with 
doors the tine stone screen supporting the " Minstrels" Gallerey," 
over which one loves to throw, Paolo Veronese fashion, heavy 
draperies of crimson velvet ! The Hall had included the present 
outside passage under the Gallery. The Hall measurements may 
have interest : — 

Length, including screen and gallery . . . 61 ft. ic4 in. 

up to screen (as now) . . . . 50 " 7 " 

Width 30 " I " 

Height 50 " 9 " 

and the top, " Bedlam"— 

Length 6; ft. 2 in. 

Width 29 " 4 " 

Height 22 " 6 " 

The great charm of this Hall is that, once shut the eight 



"T'^:^;:^! 



•H.^ f ^'^ ^' 




2 2 MoIIaton Iball 

doors leading into it, you are in a room private almost as a bou- 
doir ; for its only gallery, the Minstrels' [?] at one end, holding 
the old organ (last repaired in 1799), is not necessarily a passage. 
So, in summer, when you escape the glare by down-drawn 
screens to the high sun-blazoned windows, and sit luxuriously 
looking through the Saloon to its open terrace door, on the vivi"d 
greenery without, yourself cool as in a woodland ; so, in winter, 
when coiled in the great chairs in front of a fire whose feeding 
coal-blocks are each a maiVs burden, and one of the great chan- 
deliers lights in rich harmony and no glare the pictures, plenish- 
ing, and high heraldry of the roof, — be you one, or be you a 
score, you feel essentially — Homed ! 

In a dwelling so given up to external symmetries, and this 
great Halls space, it is natural that other rooms should suffer, so 
there are none of any (proportionately) notable size, though the 
old Drawing- and Dining-rooms up-stairs (the latter temporarily 
converted into small closed cubicles for bachelors) are not mean 
apartments, and some of the bedrooms are large and lofty. But 
many run through each other, or have little staircases leading 
up to others only by making passage-rooms of the first. 

The two chief staircases, north and south, have undoubtedly 
suffered in interest from Wyatt's improvements ; as, though de- 
corated — one, walls and ceiling, the other, ceiling only — by Verrio 
or Laguerre (his pupil) with painted mythology, they are quite 
modernised. 

A young architect, Mr. Allen, counted the masks, heads, etc., 
occurring in the detail of sculptured decoration on the outside of 
the Hall. There are 32 busts, 20 full-length figures, 4 smaller fig- 
ures, 14 skulls, 10 heads on ground floor, 104 on first fioor, 64 on 
second fioor : total of heads, 198. On the shields on second 
floor there are 16 owls' and i5 lions' heads, and on the strapwork 
finish to the towers there are i2 heads. 



24 Mollaton Iball 

The kitchens and cellars are notable — the beer-cellars won- 
derful works of tunnelled rock and brick building for long dis- 
tances beneath the house and terrace : a siege could have been 
stood out in ales ! In these cellars is a beautiful spring that sup- 
plies the house with drinking-water. This tunnelling no doubt 
contributes to the great dryness of the building. 

The furniture and plenishings of such a house should be of as 
abounding interest as its architecture ; but poor Wollaton has 
here fared ill ! Judging from old inventories and remarks by 
Cassandra, Sir Francis did not fmd the old house plentifully gar- 
nished on succession. During a long minority, when only ex- 
ecutors are in charge, who knows what pilfering and "mislays" 
occur ? And doubtless many articles — plate, books, etc. — were 
moved about with the young Willughbys and drifted out of ken. 
Then the Lord Paget may have taken good care of his daughter. 

The Willughby possessions were split up in their many 
houses, — Wollaton, Middleton, Kinsbury, Coventry, Woodlands, 
etc., — and as Francis writes, in 1587, to Henry Earl of Hunting- 
don, whose nephew his daughter, Dorothy Willughby, espoused 
that year, excusing himself for not keeping their wedding at his 
house, "because by reason of his wife's absence, and y^ furniture 
of his house being much decayed, he had not designed keeping 
house this year," we think, with Cassandra, that he did not care 
to buy new furniture till the new house was finished, and that 
then, finding money scarce, he did not add very greatly to his 
possessions. 

And there was a fine stripping of those in the latter days 
of Willughby. For example : in 1781, when Thomas, Lord 
Middleton, left to his wife, the beautiful Georgiana Chadwick, 
everything of which he could despoil his family and heirs ; in 
consequence of which she took to her second husband, and their 
daughter, afterwards Duchess of Newcastle, property then valued 



'3!@3 




THE TERRACE GARDEN, WOLLATON 



25 



26 Mollaton Iball 

at about ^300,000. A pathetic letter from the fifth Lord describes 
the plight in which he was left by the cruel injustice of his cousin 
and predecessor. 

Owing, therefore, to this and similar causes, there are fewer 
traces in plenishing of the almost princely wealth and posses- 
sions (among which, by the way, it is worth noting have been n'o 
kings' gifts) of these Willughbys of Wollaton-Eresby : 

A few pictures, a little china, and plate (where are the 321 
pieces named in the will of that Sir Hugh Willughby of the fif- 
teenth century ?), and a good many books, etc. Two ancient 
cannon recovered from Sir Hugh Willughby's frozen ships, and 
the canvas mail coat of the navigator ; relics in books and gar- 
ments of the prim-visaged Lady Cassandra Willughby^ whose 
pictured portrait, and that of her infant brother (afterwards Earl 
of Londonderry), hang in the Dining-room, and from whom our 
historian of Chandos inherited her name ; and a few, how few, 
alas ! of the natural philosopher's collections and books. 

The late Lord Wenlock told me that when the seventh 
Lord Middleton emptied Middleton Hall— selling even the herd of 
black deer in the park, undeterred by his heirs — the philo- 
sopher's library, containing many books given to him by the 
great scientists, etc., of his time, went ruthlessly with the 
rest. 

Cassandra tells us that in a valuation of Sir Henry Willughby's 
goods at Middleton and Wollaton "were set down many copes 
and vestments for y Chapel, and many extraordinary arms in 
y« Armory," and the plate was then valued at ^447 los., which 
was a large amount in his time. But little save a few illuminated 
volumes represent those early days. 

It is said that the old cannon on the front hall steps weie 
taken from a French privateer, probably by the noted Sir Nesbit 
Willoughby of Mauritius fame ; whose picture, with its shaded 




27 



28 



Mollaton 1baU 



eye, reminds one of the tale how it was shot out by a French 
bullet, and hung by a filament on the sailor's cheek ! Sir Nesbit 
tore the eyeball away, tossed it overboard, and crying, "D — n 
the fellow who fired that shot ! " went on hghting. This is but 
one of many stories of his gallantry. 

While Wollaton New House was in process of building, S'ir 
Francis, separated from his wife, seems latterly to have lived in 
Thurland House, in Nottingham, walking to and fro to watch the 
progress of his great work. Old Wollaton was probably aban- 
doned in August, 1587, for in that month Sir Francis moved from 
Wollaton to his house at Nottingham. 

In 1587, Sir Francis gives a great feast in his unfinished 
palace, November nth, it being Lenton Fair time. " Y* y^ Earl 
of Rutland and his Lady, Sir Thos. Manors and his Lady, Sir 
Gervas Clifton and ^^°' Sir Anthony Strelly and ^°- and divers 
other Gentlemen with their retinue to y*^ number of a hundred 
and twenty persons, all dined with Sir Francis at Wollaton New 
House." The historian gives the subjoined account of things 
bought for this dinner. Evidently the small fowl were (from 
their number) for mixed pies ! 

Account of Things bought for a Dinner, November ii, 1587. The Provision 
OF Beef and Mutton, etc., being Killed at Home. 









Paid 


for. 




sh. d. 




sh. d. 


Butter 94 


6 lbs. of Sugar. 


10 


Eggs 






6 10 


3 " " Raisins 


9 


Milk for custards 






I 


3 " " Gorans 


■ 3 


2 Piggs . 






2 8 


3 " " Pruins 


I 


S Capons 






6 2 


^ lb. of Pepper 


I 


8 Chickens 






2 2 


3 of Cynamon 


I 4 


4 Woodcocks . 






I 4 


" Ginger 


4 


5 Snipes . 






ID 


" Mace 


I 6 


4 Plover . 






ID 


" Cloves 


I 


Bread for y* kitchen 






8 


I lb. of Bisquit 


I 6 


Ale to seethe fish in 






2 
Total p 


Paid for Musk Comfits . 
C^ 144 


2 6 




DISTANT VIEW OF WOLLATON HALL 



29 



30 IKaoIlaton Iball 

And now let us move down from the house, by the steps ot 
the Saloon door, and wander across the green lawns of the balus- 
traded terrace, down the old cracked and notched stairs to those 
lower flats which the cedars shade ; and where venerable ilex of 
Jacobean times lean over the drop fence into the Park. Let us 
move to our left, past the French Hovel (why so called?), and. 
look eastwards to Nottingham, past and beyond the long avenue 
of limes, with its fourfold rows of lofty pillars. How lovely that 
view can show, as the town climbs its slopes to the wooded 
heights of Mapperley, when the soft hazes of summer bathe alike 
the red brick and tile of buildings, and the variegated fields, 
gardens, tree-clumps, till they blend and fuse into very poetry of 
hue and shading ! Aye, even the high chimneys become glori- 
fied, and lend a veiled dignity to the outlines ; while the Castle, 
on its rocky pedestal, might be imagined a medieval fortress 
guarding its feudatories. Without much strain on the imagina- 
tion, Nottingham, as viewed from the terrace at Wollaton, might 
in certain aspects, and on certain days, stand for a Southern city 
of dream-born and poet-planned creation. 

Turning back across the grass, past the small fountain basin, 
where the rose-pink water-lily raises her coronal of bloom above 
a floating halo of bronzed foliage, we could almost wish the lawn 
were broken again into squares, as in the picture by Sibrects (time 
of Orange William) it is depicted ; for the plainness of the well- 
kept sward, as now, is in somewhat bald contrast to the architect- 
ural richness backing it. So clear-cut still, by the way, is this rich 
detail of the house, despite its age, that when, in 1888, the Royal 
Agricultural Society of Great Britain held its meeting in Wollaton 
Park, the present Sir Walter Gilbey, observing the same, contra- 
dicted others on the date of the building, and made the bet of a 
new hat with some of the Council that it had not existed a hund- 
red years. He lost his hat : that year was the house's tercentenary. 




^^£m:^-vz: 



IN THE PARK AT WOLLATON 



31 



32 



Timollaton 1ball 



Leaving the house and its verdant fronting, we wander down 
a sloping path, shrub-bordered, past flourishing remains of more 
old ilex, and come suddenly upon a garden terrace, glowing in 
colour, lying between the great Camellia House (that monument 
of injudicious outlay, as wherein can one see the 'eight or ten 
thousand pounds spent on its erection?) and the ha-ha drop to 
the Park. In that Park roamed of yore the wild white cattle of 

Britain. Those of Wollaton 
were polled, and had black 
noses and insides of ears. 
From the fact of their being 
described as "spotted," and 
"good milkers," and "used 
for draught purposes," it is 
fairly certain that they had 
been crossed with domestic 
breeds ; and that the seven 
sole survivors, which were 
destroyed by the seventh 
Lord Middleton, were not 
worth preserving, as but lit- 
tle of the original strain re- 
mained. 
From this flowery parterre of the terrace garden, the sweep 
of grassy glades towards the lily-spread waters of the lake is a 
fair outlook ; and on summer evenings, when the deer, red and 
fallow, pass in stately or tripping bands by the sunk fence, the 
tiny calves and fawns frolicking lamblike, uttering their petu- 
lant, querulous cries, and wild-fowl and Chinese geese on the 
water call to their kind in blended voices — when church bells 
and clock chimes are the only sounds that tell of the vicinity of 
many multitudes, and the rich tlowerage around gives forth its 




A CORNER OF THE 
CAMELLIA HOUSE 



Mollatoii Iball 33 

good-night perfume to the sinking sun — we, there standing, 
seeing, hearkening, sensing, envy none their environment. 

Beautiful Wollaton — thank God for thee ! But we end with 
a note of sndness, for "the trail of the serpent is over it all," as 
over all of earth. Sad are things many ! Sad is the gradual 
creep of the city down to the Park walls ; when the distance to 
lend enchantment will be absent from that view, when chimneys 
can no more appear as fairy spires, the gas-holders as mediaeval 
granaries, and the big factories with their hard iron-framed win- 
dows lose charming value as ruddy blurs through the hazes of 
blue. Sad is the nighness of the local colliery, which it was left 
to the last generation to plant in the pretty village itself ; and 
whose smouldering pit-bank generates sulphur fumes which will 
■surely in time do to death the noblest trees. 

Quite in recent years the " Great Walk," planted from acorns 
in 1660, directly in front of the Hall door, has become chiefly a 
replacement in young timber ; and all one can do now, through- 
out the Park, is to follow the old Scotch laird's advice to his son : 
" Be aye stickin' in a tree, Jock, — 't will be growin' while ye are 
sleepin' ! " 



Bunvegan Castle 



35 




SUNSET, FROM THE WATCH-TOWER 



DUNVEGAN CASTLE 



BY A. H. MALAN 



THIS Castle is credited with being the oldest inhabited pri- 
vate house in Scotland ; but it would be a less contro- 
versial way of putting it, to say that the rock on which it 
stands has been occupied by the same family since early in the 
thirteenth century, when Leod became possessed of certain lands 
through his marriage with the heiress of Macraild Armuinn the 
Dane. 

That this hardy Norseman, Macraild, should have effected a 
settlement on the coast of Skye was, of course, quite in keeping 
with the times, inasmuch as for two centuries, dating from the 
Norman conquest of England, the Hebrides were overrun with 
Scandinavians, during the era of those kings of Man and the 
Isles who were dependants, not of Scotland, but of Norway ; the 
last king of this united kingdom being Olave the Black, whose 
three sons ruled successively, but over Man only. The Sagas are 



37 



38 2)unveaan Castle 

very liberal in bestowing royal dignity ; and thus there is nothing 
strange in the fact that a descendant of Somerled should enjoy 
the title of King of the Isles at a time when Olave's son was King 
of Man. By his third wife, Christina, daughter of Farquhar, Earl 
of Ross, Olave is reputed to have been Leod's father. Olave 
died in 1237 ; and a few years later, Donald, Somerled's grand- 
son, calls himself King of the Isles, in a charter witnessed to by 
his "most beloved cousins and counsellors, MacLeod of Harris 
and McLeod of Lewis," Leod's two sons. For Leod, having re- 
ceived from his father the isle of Lewis-^///;7-Harris, and, from the 
Earl of Ross, some territory on the mainland, apportioned what is 
now called Harris to his elder son, Tormod (from whom the Mac- 
Leods "of Harris, Dunvegan, and Glenelg " are descended), 
while giving Lewis to his younger son, Torquil. So flir this bit 
of history seems all plain sailing ; except that there is no proof 
that Olave was Leod's father, though there is no proof he was not. 

On the surrender of the Hebrides, in 126b, to Alexander 111., 
the Island-kingdom, properly speaking, came to an end ; but the 
name King of the Isles seems to have continued in vogue in a 
quiet sort of a way till the time of David II. , when it assumed a 
modified form. This occurred upon several of the Western isl- 
ands happening to be possessed by John Macdonald of Islay, con- 
sidered to be heir-male of Somerled's line ; and, in styling himself 
Dominus Insular um, "John de Yle " commenced the era of those 
Lords of the Isles who long continued as semi-independent poten- 
tates ; the title, nominally forfeited in 1475, being supposed to be 
finally extinguished in 1493, though managing to start up afresh, 
more than once, later on. And of the Lords of the Isles the Mac- 
leods of Harris were vassals, though earlier holding their main- 
land property direct from the Crown. 

There appears no trace now remaining of Armuinn's abode, 
unless an elevated piece of rampart on the northern side has 




39 



40 Bunveoan (Tastle 

something to do with it. It must anyhow have been insignifi- 
cant compared with the extensive pile which the mail-boat 
passes, after its long day's run from Oban. A run, indeed, of 
calm water through the Sound of Mull, but attended by sundry 
uncomfortable rollings at intervals, after that ; ofl' Eigg; commem- 
orative of a deed "the most cold-blooded and atrocious in High- 
land history" — which is saying a good deal ; off Rum, with its 
twin peaks, Alival and Askival ; and Canna, with its low green 
breadths. Then follows the long board across, gradually leaving 
behind us, on the starboard beam and quarter, those gaunt 
mountains of Skye, concerning which a modern bard tells the 
true and tragic tale of how a golden eagle was seen to take up six 
lambs in succession, letting them go, when well aloft, to dash 
themselves on the rocks, and was proved to have served thirteen 
others in the same way : in spite of which piece of wanton wick- 
edness on the part of "The Tyrant of the Cuchullin Hills," one 
echoes the poet's aspiration that these birds may long flourish 
under the protection of MacLeod. Then, after putting in at Loch 
Bracadale, we skirt " MacLeod's Maidens" and Idrigill (for a while 
the prison of Lady Grange) ; and after that there ensues a period 
of most tumultuous pitchings and tossings, till the ship has 
rounded Dunvegan Head (where the cliffs stand up tremen- 
dously precipitous against the lowering sun), and enters a placid 
reach, quickly becoming narrowed up by islets and peninsulas, 
and eventually almost terminating at the quay. 

Leaving the waterside, the carriage-drive passes in among 
trees, where the song-birds, ferns, and foliage so obliterate all 
sense of the water, that a steamer's hooter would seem as out of 
place as the sea-serpent ; but before one is reconciled to the start- 
ling change of scene, the castle is approached, and proves to have 
lost nothing of its ancient welcome, though no piper is in waiting 
with The MacLeod Salute. 




41 



42 



DunvcGan Castle 



What was formerly the back is now the front. The oldest 
part is the Keep, and one would like to think Armuinn built it 
Perhaps it occupies the same site ; perhaps the very stones were 
relaid on the old foundation ; perhaps pieces of the ancient walls 
were utilised ; but, as a whole, the well-built masonry seems to 
forbid an earlier date than the time of Leod's grandson, who was 
granted a charter of Glenelg in 1343. (Another charter of 1498 
shows that the island estates were then held on condition of 
keeping in readiness for the King's use a twenty-six-oared lym- 




DUNVEQAN CASTLE 

AFTER THE ENGRAVING IN GROSE'S ANTIQUITIES ' 



phad.) The Keep consisted of an upper and under hall, with 
chambers above ; and was formerly only accessible on the west 
side, by a sea gate, still remaining (though narrowed), and still 
showing portcullis-grooves, and a ten-feet-long hole for the beam 
which was shot across on the inside. Just within that gate there 
branches off to the left a very narrow postern-passage, which 
led into the interior, the present footpath proceeding up to the 
terrace, past the ancient well. Along with its northern watch- 
tower, the Donjon formed the only building till early in the 




EAST ASPECT OF DUNVEQAN CASTLE 



43 



44 S)unt)eoan (Tastle 

sixteenth century, when the eighth chief, Alexander Crotach, 
erected a southern tower, with newel stairs communicating with 
its three stories, and carried up to a passage round the eaves 
which is protected by a loopholed parapet. 

Next, Sir Roderich, better known as Rorie M'ore, about a 
century later incorporated the bailey between the Keep and 
Alexander's Tower ; rendering the present front aspect what it 
would now appear, supposing the modern bridge, porch, and 
octagonal turrets were removed, and what it was — barring the 
then dilapidation — in 1790, as shown in Grose's Antiquities. The 
engraving in that work is noteworthy, since it depicts the castle 
as Johnson saw it in 1773. Boswell speaks of a " large unfinished 
pile of four stories, which we were told was here when Leod 
came " ; so that it is clear the household then occupied the part 
south of the Keep. 

What was the under-hall is now a series of cellars ; and what 
was the Banquet-hall is now the Drawing-room : where, it may 
be mentioned, — as illustrating the difference, here, between past 
and present, — the English Church service is held on Sundays, 
whenever practicable ; and any villagers, or strangers, who may 
think proper to do so, are at liberty to join with the household 
in worship. Let us suppose ourselves to have entered this room. 
Four deep bays are formed entirely by the nine-feet thickness of 
the walls. The things especially inviting notice are those in the 
glass cases. In one case are the Fairy Flag, Rorie's drinking-horn, 
and the well-known Dunvegan cup. The Fairy Flag is three 
feet nine inches high, but so tattered at the end that its original 
length is indeterminate. It is of fine silk, weather-stained to a 
dull yellow, and has sundry " elf-marks,'" or perhaps rent-darns, 
in red thread ; a wide hem served for passing it over the top of a 
staff. Of unknown origin, it is thought to be a Saracenic banner ; 
tradition affirming it to have been the safeguard of the clan in 




DININQ-ROOM, DUNVEQAN CASTLE, SHOWING PORTRAIT OF GENERAL NORMAN 

MacLeod and his second WIFE; AND THE COLOURS OF THE 2ND 

BATTALION 42ND REGIMENT 



45 



46 



H)iinipe0an Castle 



battle, and the bringer of fish to the loch. And the extreme care 
with which it was cherished was suftkiently shown when, in 
1799, an iron chest, known to hold it, was surreptitiously broken 
open, and found to contain an inner case, within which was a 
scented casket, with the flag deposited therein. 

The Dunvegan cup is an Irish vessel, made of dark wood, 
and overlaid with studded silver plates and filigree. It may 

possibly have served as a chalice, 
since it has i. h. s. repeated four 
times inside the bowl, and a verse 
of Psalm cxliv. outside. Its gilding, 
inlaying of niello, crystals, coral 
beads, and apertures in the plating 
through which peeped some col- 
oured fabric, must once have given 
it a most brilliant, highly decorated' 
effect. Below the rim each of the 
four sides has lettering in a panel of 
two lines ; but the upper line of each 
panel has nothing whatever to do 
with the lower, except only on the 
fourth side ; and it is apparently 
through his omitting to notice this 
that Scott made such a remarkable hash of the legend and date. 
The date is 1493 ; and the inscription, when expanded and trans- 
lated, asserts that Catherine O'Neill, wife of John Macguire, 
Prince of Fermanagh, caused the cup to be made ; after which 
follows, " Oc III! omnium in te sperant," etc. 

In two other glass cases are the letters of thanks indited by 
Johnson and Sir Walter, after their respective visits. Johnson 
writes, Sept. 28, 1773, to his host, the twentieth chief: — "We 
are now on the margin of the sea, waiting for a boat — Boswell 




DUNVEGAN CUP 




THE FAIRY ROOM, SHOWING NEWEL STAIRS 



47 



48 S)imveoan daetle 

grows impatient " ; he sends back the borrowed horse, which, 
" heavy as 1 am, has borne me over ground both rough and steep 
with great fidelity" ; and then continues : " Lady MacLeod and 
the young ladies have, by their hospitality and politeness, made 
an impression on my mind which will not easily be 'effaced. Be 
pleased to tell them 1 remember them with great tenderness and 
great respect." Scott, acknowledging to Mrs. MacLeod a 
purse of her workmanship, and sending his Lord of the Isles, 
proceeds : — 

". . . . The hospitality of Dunvegan will long live in 
my recollection. 1 venture to send ... a poem which owes its 
best passages to MacLeod's kindness and taste in directing me to 
visit the extraordinary scenery between his country and Strath- 
ard, which rivals in grandeur and sublimity anything that the 
Highlands can produce ... I shall be proud and happy if it 
serves to amuse a leisure hour at Dunvegan. It has had one 
good consequence to the author, that it has served to replenish 
the purse which the Lady MacLeod presented him ; yet he has so 
much the spirit of the old bard, that he values the purse more 
than the contents. ..." 

(The volume referred to is in the Library, and inscribed : "Mrs. 
MacLeod of MacLeod, from her much obliged and faithful humble 
servant the author, Edinb., 3 March, 1815.") 

At one end of the Drawing-room, in the wall's thickness, is 
the passage which led down to the Retainers' Hall below ; at the 
opposite end is either a similar passage or else a secret chamber. 
With these exceptions there is nothing in this pretty room, with 
its modern equipment, to suggest either its former appearance, or 
the scenes witnessed within it. Just think : it was here that Ian 
Dubh the usurper, after assassinating his cousin Donald, the tenth 
chief, and his three nephews, despatched a whole party of people 
seated at his board ; thus giving a new version of the proverb, 




VIEW FROM THE DRAWING-ROOM, DUNVE3AN CASTLE, 
LOOKING DOWN TO SEA GATE 



49 



50 Dunvegan Castle 

" Fair and false as a Campbell.'^ The circumstances were these : 
An Argyll force, having landed at Roag to take possession of 
the Dunvegan property on behalf of the Earl of Argyll, guardian 
of the heiress Mary MacLeod (the me of the four Marys), was 
met at Kilmuir by Ian and his staff, and, after confabulation held, 
eleven of the gentlemen were invited to the Castle. At table the 
guests sat alternately between lan's friends ; and the feast pro- 
ceeded harmoniously enough until, toward the end, a cup of 
blood was set before every Campbell, who was at the same mo- 
ment dirked by the MacLeod next him. And you have only to 
open the farther door, and squeeze yourself through an opening 
twenty-one inches wide, just outside it, and enter the rude upper 
dungeon, with its rough, vaulted roof and a square hole in the 
floor gaping down into the depths of the lower dungeon, to see 
where Ian lodged his brothers, and some of the leading men of 
the clan, till they had all sworn allegiance to him ; enabling him 
to retain his ill-gotten possession until, after many years, he was 
surprised by the sudden return of the rightful chief, Tormod, from 
France, when he dashed out of the sea gate and escaped to 
Ireland, but presently met his deserts. 

As for Tormod, he went to work on a more extensive scale. 
Resolving, with the promptitude of a Jehu, that there should be 
no more bother about the succession, he gave orders for a clean 
sweep of lan's kin ; and, accordingly, nine brothers and sisters of 
the usurper, with all their families, were simultaneously slaugh- 
tered at his command. Tormod the exterminator has been also 
considered to have perpetrated the massacre at Eigg ; but it is 
fairly certain that Ian Dubh was the real author of it, as it is 
known to have occurred in 1577, in which year he was at Dun- 
vegan, and Tormod was in France. The story is this; — Some 
Clanranalds had just paid off a score against a recent raiding 
party of his clan, when " MacLeod Herreik landed with ane great 




ALISTER CROTACH'S TOMB IN RODEL CHURCH 



52 Dimveoan Castle 

armie." Apprised of his coming, tiie whole population of the 
island took refuge in a cave, where all were suffocated, "to 
the number of 195 persons, man, wyfe and bairnis"; many of 
the poor wretches pressing up close to the blocked entrance, 
gasping for air, as their bones, lately exhumed at the very, 
threshold, have, it is said, testified. 

Over the Drawing-room are some bedrooms. Scott remarks, 
in reference to his room, " the mind is not similarly affected at all 
times alike." Happily it is not; otherwise meditation on the 
horrors that took place immediately below might be hardly con- 
ducive to repose. Happily, also, in the long days, the afterglow 
almost merges into the dawn, so that one feels even the. ghosts 
of lan's victims would hardly think it worth their while to turn 
out for the short time during which it is comparatively dark. 

From the summit of the Watch-tower, reached from this 
direction, a romantic picture presents itself on a still evening, 
when the sun sinks his red-hot disc just off Dunvegan Head, and, 
nearer at hand, the darkening back of Gairbh Island mirrors itself 
in the unruffled water ; and the calls of blackbirds, gulls, cuckoos, 
terns, and mergansers, make a striking and unusual combination 
of bird-music. And the picture loses nothing in interest suppos- 
ing Dunvegan's lord has been prevailed upon good-naturedly to 
don the old accoutrements, occupy the battlemented foreground, 
and, fier comme iiii Ecossais, throw against the sky those three 
eagle-plumes which none but a chief may wear. 

In the corridor, between the Keep and the South Tower, 
among other things is some old chain armour fished up out of the 
loch ; the claymore of Norman MacLeod (of Bernera), who raised 
a thousand men, and led the clan at the battle of Worcester, 
where the majority fell ; also that symbol of the subjection of the 
Isles, Rorie More's two-handed sword. The early career of this 
redoubtable chief was spent in keeping alive a feud long existent 




53 



54 



Bunveoan dastle 



concerning the northern extremity of Skye. According to certain 
charters (isoo-1510), the bailiery of Troternish had been vested 

in three different per- 
sons, the natural result 
being that there oc- 
curred perpetual en- 
gagements between the 
rival claimants—Dunve- 
gan, Lewis, and Sleat, 
alike in the time of 
Crotach, of the next 
chief, Tormod, and of 
his second son, Rorie — 
in the latter case the 
feud becoming intensi- 
fied through Rorie's sis- 
ter being ill-treated by 
her husband, Donald 
G r m M a c d n a 1 d . 
With such ferocity and 
revengefulness was the 
fray sustained, that the 
Privy Council was com- 
pelled to interfere, and endeavour to introduce some sort of 
order into the Isles, before the clans in question were com- 
pletely ruined. To this end, in 1608, all the island lords had 
to meet the Commissioners at Aros, and were required to give 
up their strongholds to the Heralds, renounce all claims to 
jurisdiction, obey the laws, destroy their fleets of galleys, and 
no longer use two-handed sv^ords, but only single-handed 
swords and targets. Upon their rather demurring at having their 
wings clipped in such wholesale fashion, they were beguiled on 




OLD ARMOUR AND SWORDS 



Duupcoan Castle 55 

to the King's ship, Moon, "to hear a sermon" ; except Rorie 
alone, who, reluctant to be edified, wisely stopped ashore, and 
so saved himself the imprisonment undergone by the others, 
at Dumbarton and Stirling, as hostages for the good behaviour 
of their clans. 

The next year there followed the Statutes of lona, whereby 
the personal attendants of the chiefs were strictly limited in num- 
ber ; and, "in consequence of the inordinate love of wine and 
aqua vita being the cause of the inhumanity and barbarity prac- 
tised," itinerant wine-sellers were put down, and all wine re- 
quired (limited in annual quantity — in MacLeod's case to four 
tuns) was to be imported direct from the mainland, though the 
chiefs might still distil aqua to their hearts' content ; Sabbaths were 
to be observed according to the discipline of the Reformed Kirk ; 
and every man who owned sixty head of cattle was henceforth 
to put his children to school in the Lowlands, to learn English. 
These statutes the chiefs bound themselves faithfully to observe ; 
Donald Gorm and Rorie becoming friends the next day, condon- 
ing their mutual murders, slaughters, spulzies, and raising of fire, 
and agreeing to " live hereafter in Christian peace and society" — 
a novel experience for both ! 

Then, in 1616, instead of ranging about from one to another 
of their various fortresses, each chief was to reside at a specified 
house, about which he was to make " policie and planting," also 
taking the home farm into his own hands, "to the effect he 
might be exercised and eschew idleness." Imagine Rorie, ever a 
fighter, pottering about among his stots and oats ! If he ever did 
such a thing, how he must have longed for his lost birlinns, and 
for just one fight more with the Macdonalds ! He was succeeded 
by his son, Ian More, who found himself robbed of the tax 
hitherto imposed on fishing-boats plying within his bounds. He 
was evidently one of the good chiefs of the clan, since he was 



56 



Dunvcaan (Tastle 



termed " Lot in Sodom," which looks as if the outer islands were 
hardly what they should have been, in spite of the various stat- 
utes. Presently there came Ian Breac, "the model Highland 
gentleman," who kept harper, piper, and fool at Dunvegan ; and 
whose bard was the famous Mary MacLeod, recalled from Mull, 
whither she had been banished for composing ballads to Rorie's 
third son instead of reserving her minstrelsy for her chief. Ian 
set about restoring the castle, but without being able to carry out 
his schemes. His arms (impaled with those of his wife, daughter 




ARMS OF IAN BREAC, SIXTEENTH CHIEF 



of Sir James Macdonald of Sleat) are now over the front door : the 
Danish triskele (legs of Man), flying figures, horse and hound, and 
sea-monster-like supporters, rather smacking of the wild Norwe- 
gian, and giving the achievement a breezy, sea-kingly appearance. 
The clan had had, after Worcester, sufficient experience of 
Stuart forgetfulness of service rendered ; and consequently Ian 
kept himself and his men out of the clan-muster, under Dundee, 
in 1689. About that period a seer foretold the following curious 
combination of events : that when the third Norman, son of the 
hard-boned English lady, perished accidentally, the "Maidens" 
became Campbell property, a fox littered in the Castle, and the 
flag was exposed to view, the glory of the MacLeods would 
depart, but to be more than recovered in the future when 
another Ian Breac should arise. 



Dunveoan Castle 57 

In 179Q, the Dr. MacLeod of that date was able to verify and 
record the first part of this prophecy. Within a few days of the 
discovery of the Hag (at which he was present), the " Maidens" 
were sold to Angus Campbell, a tame fox produced cubs in one 
of the turrets, and news arrived of the death of young Norman 
MacLeod in H. M. S. Qjiceii Charlotte. And it only remains to 
say that there should be no unnecessary delay in the fulfil- 
ment of the remainder, since 1 am informed the heir presumptive 
to Dunvegan bears the fated title ; and, if such be the case, he 
will certainly deserve good fortune in after-life, as Ian Breac is 
hardly the name one would choose for the ordeal of school, — 
it is too provocative of the assumption, "your head is ' iron,' it 
won't ' break,' " — and therefore will require some courage to live 
up to. 

The present Dining-room — the Drawing-room where John- 
son discussed men and affairs, and Boswell took his dish of tea — 
is not quite what it then was, the corridor having been since built 
at the back. A conspicuous picture here is one of Norman, nine- 
teenth chief, usually known as "The Wicked Man," partly 
through his having run through /6o,ooo accumulated during his 
minority, and left the estate /so,ooo in debt, in consequence of 
which Harris and Glenelg had to go, partly through his share in 
the Lady Grange affair, and also through his encouraging Prince 
Charlie to come over, but refusing him aid, and ultimately fighting 
on the other side. To add to his other crimes, he "took a fancy 
to a pretty girl " ; inviting his wife (Janet Macdonald, from whom 
he was separated) back to Dunvegan, and then, as is said, starv- 
ing her to death in order to marry the charmer. He was on in- 
timate terms with Rob Roy ; and it is noticeable that his portrait 
shows him dressed in Rob Roy tartan. 

Of a different stamp altogether was his grandson, afterwards 
General Norman MacLeod, whose picture is by Raeburn. Along 



58 Dunvegau Castle 

with Colonel MacLeod of Talisker, he had been called in by the 
'' Wicked Man " to do what he could with the tenants whose 
rents had been increased, to raise funds. They were losing all 
sense of feudalism since the Disarming Act, and contemplating 
emigration ; and in his memoirs he describes how "-terrible we 
found it to decide between justice to our family, and the dis- 
tresses of a tenantry who had lost a third of their cattle the pre- 
vious winter." But he had his reward. His consideration won 
the heart of the clan ; hardly any one emigrated, and he rein- 
stated the patriarchal idea : in which respect he was well imitated 
afterwards by his grandson, who dwelt among his own people, 
arranging things for them when almost ruined by the famine in 
1845, and then having to go forth and shift for himself, until ap- 
pointed to an office in the Queen's Household : and his example, 
again, has been so faithfully followed by his son, the twenty- 
third chief, that no name now stands higher in Hebridean — one 
may say Highland — esteem than that of MacLeod of MacLeod. 

To return to the General. On succeeding, his mother (the 
daughter of Brodie of Brodie, Lyon King — his portrait is in the 
Billiard-room) and his sisters came to live with him ; and one of 
those sisters used subsequently to recall how Johnson's fire re- 
fused to burn, and he must needs go out into the courtyard to 
get some peat for it, so making his cold worse ; much to the 
amusement of her mother, who went to see how he was getting 
on, and found him a ludicrous object, " with his wig inside out, 
the back to the front, to keep his head warm." Presently the 
Doctor's sage advice to " keep to the Rock" proved impractic- 
able. " I found myself," writes the General, " without any hope 
of extinguishing the debts, or ever emerging from poverty and 
obscurity ; and 1 had the torment of seeing my mother and sisters 
immured with me." Accordingly he went for a soldier; raising 
the Second Battalion of the 42nd, accompanying it to India, and 











DUNVEGAN CASTLE, WEST FRONT, FROM THE SEA 



59 



6o Bunveaan Casile 

defeating Tippoo (who gave him a sword, still here, minus its 
jewels), and eventually becoming Commander-in-chief of the 
Malabar army. 

The "Rock" is by no means so isolated as was the case 
then. From these windows, looking across, the loch might be a. 
small inland lake, but there is frequently something to enliven it : 
either the daily steamer appears for a moment and then vanishes, 
or smacks seek shelter, or some dainty yacht drops in, like the 
one which brought Mr. Black, to go into raptures, in White 
f4^ings, over the other Raeburn, the General's second wife ; or at 
least there will be the castle fisherman so patiently plying his 
bootless calling that it would be sheer charity to wave .the flag 
and secure him a bite. 

Landwards, too, the trees are so grown and multiplied that 
pleasant rambles are to be had in the woods ; the garden that 
the General's mother considered impossible has decidedly been 
made, and is perfectly wind-proof; while as for the "Nurse," 
audible as of yore, it is now quite invisible, except when you are 
close to its embowered seclusion. 

The bedroom where Rorie was lulled by this cascade is in 
the base of Mister Crotach's tower. The story above forms the 
Fairy Room, where the tlag was stored ; the fairies at present oc- 
cupying it, as their sitting-room, being the daughters of the 
house. At one end is a modern entrance, at the other an open- 
ing off the newel stairs ; and since it was here that Scott was 
quartered, he was certainly fortunate in having his slumbers 
undisturbed. 

Beyond the Castle precincts, southward, is Kilmuir church- 
yard, with some fearful and wonderful family vault-enclosures, 
like pounds ; also with an obelisk erected by the notorious 
Simon, Lord Lovat, over the grave of his father, who died at 
Dunvegan when visiting his brother-in-law; the son, "to show 



Dunveoan Ca»tle 



6 1 



posterity his affection for his mother's kindred, the brave Mac- 
Leods, choosing rather to leave his father's bones with them than 
carry them away to Lovat." Just beyond this churchyard stands 
the Dunvegan Hotel, on that road to Portree which offers an 
alternative route for any who would wish to visit the neighbour- 
hood, but without the long passage from Oban. 

Within a walk, eastward, is the Temple of Anaitis, dis- 
coursed upon by Boswell, still awaiting the attention of some 




RODEL CHURCH 



competent antiquarian ; destined to be more fortunate in his 
digging, let us trust, than the lady who unearthed, near here, 
a lately buried gypsy's child, when investigating some supposed 
monument of the past. 

Some monuments of the past MacLeods being at Harris, ship 
was taken for Rodel. After calling at Stein, Ardmore is soon 
reached, with Trumpan at its back, memorable in island story. 
At Trumpan some MacLeods were in church. Nothing being 
sacred to a Macdonald, the building was fired, and all its occu- 
pants put to the sword except one woman, who escaped. But 



62 



Dunveaan Castle 



the hostile keels had been sighted. The invaders, cut off from 
their boats, had to fight it out to their last man ; a stone wall 
being turned over upon them, as cairn for their slain bodies. 

Then, coastwise, round the low dark point of Waternish, and 
another call at Uig ; after which follows that crossing to the Long 
Island which is such a formidable business in hard weather. On 
nearing Harris, the object of our visit stands out, at the base of 
one of the bare grey hills ; where also formerly stood the island 

residence of the 
lord. It was 
here that Rorie 
held revel on a 
night in 1 60 1 
with his vas- 
sals, after carry- 
ing fi r e and 
sword to Tro- 
ternish, "spar- 
ing no living 
thing," and 
having his own country near the Coolins raided in return by 
the Macdonalds. On the night in question a party of the latter 
were taking news of their success to their chief, when they were 
swept across the Minch before the storm. Perhaps Scott had the 
incident in mind, when he wrote : — 

" When, if a hope of safety rest, 
' T is on the sacred name of guest 
Who seeks for shelter, storm-distress'd, 
Within a chieftain's hall." 

At any rate, it was a night when Rorie swore he would not 
refuse refuge to his worst enemy ; and so he was easily prevailed 
upon by his piper Macrimmon, who had a friend aboard, to admit 




CROFTERS' HUTS AT OBBE 



Dunvegan Castle 6 







the strangers. The crew were accordingly taken in, entertain- 
ment was provided, and an outhouse improvised for their rest. 
But, warily suspicious, at midnight Macrimmon secretly reported 
change of wind ; and hardly had the Macdonalds got afloat before 
seeing their dormitory in flames ; their piper acknowledging the 
amenities of Harris by promptly striking up The MacLeods are 
disgraced, to the fury of those ashore, at learning the birds had 
flown. 

In the small church are three recumbent effigies, and two 
recessed tombs ; that of Mister Crotach on a scale of unexpected 
grandeur. It was fashioned during his lifetime, and bears date 
IS28. At the base of the canopy he is represented in plate- 
armour, with bassinet, camail, and jupon over hauberk; a two- 
handed sword extend from breast to feet. On panels, occupying 
the recess and the arch above it, in bold relief, are the fortalice 
at Dunvegan (or else the MacLeod arms — a castle), a hunting 
scene among the stags of Harris, a galley under sail pierced for 
thirty-four oars— the emblem of his naval exploits (or else, per- 
haps, the arms of Man during the Norse occupation) ; also the 
Virgin crowned, two abbots, St. Michael weighing souls (with 
the scale in Mister's favour), and sundry angels holding scrolls 
and censers : a well-executed, but curious mixture of sacred and 
secular subjects. The ungrammatical black-letter inscription 
presents no diftkulty with the exception of one abbreviated word 
of four legible letters [p d u mj, which is aggravatingly obscure. 

There appear to be no ruins remaining of the monastery 
founded here by one of Crotach 's predecessors, to which the 
church was attached ; nor, indeed, anything else tempting one to 
linger ; therefore a visit was paid to Obbe, with its archipelago of 
islets, and its clusters of crofters' huts. 

The huts are very small and low ; but one that was entered 
contained three rooms. In the middle of the central living-room 



64 



Dunvcoan Castle 



was the open hearth, prehistorically interesting ; beyond this room, 
to the left, was the sleeping-room, so crammed with beds that no 
floor was visible ; to the right a back kitchen, furnished with pots, 
chickens, peat, and lumber. Everything within seemed black, 
as well might be ; for though a hole in the roof over'the hearth, 
and another in a corner under the eaves, and the open door, 

between them, carried off 
much of the smoke, enough 
remained behind to irritate 
nose and eyes, unless to the 
manner born. 

The women are a stalwart 
breed ; even the elderly ones 
show remarkable sprightliness, 
when scampering up a hill- 
side, jabbering Gaelic at their 
errant orange- and tabby-col- 
oured cows. They are, of 
course, adepts at everything 
connected with wool, includ- 
ing the colouring of it with 
simple natural dyes. They seem also to take their full share 
of all work that has to be done ; not that this can be excessive, 
one would imagine, seeing that on the following morning, a 
lovely spring day, at one hamlet no living creature was to be 
seen till eight o'clock, at which hour sleepy, half-clad urchins 
began to peep out at their cabin doors. 

Returning to Rodel, the impatience of a Boswell would be 
out of place. The soft, enervating air of these regions, as the 
good people of Obbe evidently fmd, tends to repose and resigna- 
tion : to the resignation of a Johnson, sitting down to write his 
letter of thanks, "on the margin of the sea, waiting for a boat." 




INSIGNIA OF THE CHIEF 



Castle Btomwicb 



65 




CASTLE BROMWICH, SOUTH FRONT 



CASTLE BROMWICH 



BY THE COUNTESS OF BRADFORD 



" In green old gardens hidden away 
From sight of revel and sound of strife, 
Here have 1 leisure to breathe and move, 
And to do my work in a nobler way ; 
To sing my songs, and to say my say, 
To dream my dreams, and to love my love, 
To hold my faith, and to live my life. 
Making the most of its shadowy way." 

SOME three hundred and twenty years have come and gone 
since those days when the last of our Tudor sovereigns 
was beginning to feel the weight of her years, and when 
the subject of this sketch was built, and the gardens, now so 
bewildering to the players of "hide-and-seek," were planned 
and laid out. This lovely old Manor-house no doubt owes much 

of its present beauty to the gentle touch of time, which has 

67 



68 



Caetle Bromwicb 




foff 




\\frm 



t \f-r 



mellowed and blended brick and stone into colouring of such 
wonderful harmony that the artist is driven to desperation, and 
seeks in vain in his paint-box to reproduce what nature and time 
have combined to make so perfect. 

Would you know more of this very perfect specimen of an 
Elizabethan mansion in the heart ot the Midlands, and not five 
miles from Birmingham, that city of teeming, toiling thousands ? 
Then step inside these gates with me, and let me try to bring 
it before you in all its perfection. On either side of the gates 

are stone lions, 
at a distance of 
eight or ten yards 
away — as it were 
guarding them. 

This, the 
main entrance, 
faces nearly due 
south ; and the 
first thing we 
see, on entering 
the approach, is an ancient sun-dial in the centre of a grass 
plot ; but we hardly glance at this as we pass on to the house, 
which claims all our attention. We gaze and gaze at the porch, 
with its twisted columns of grey stone ; the coat of arms and 
monogram of Sir John Bridgeman above in reddish stone, and 
the figures of Peace and Plenty ; and above again the very de- 
corative balustrade, on which rest four graceful vases. 

The whole of this porch, which projects some ten feet from 
the house, was added in 1672, by Sir John Bridgeman, who then 
bought the place from Sir Edward Devereaux. On either side 
are projecting wings, forming with the porch the letter n. 

Though built round an open court, no two sides are alike. 



n-y • »f f r I 




CASTLE BROMWICH 

FROM AN OLD WATER COLOUR 




THE PORCH, CASTLE BROMWICH 



69 



Castle Bromwlcb 71 

Those were certainly not the days of uniformity. Gables were 
placed here and there, at various distances apart, and apparently 
without measurement, no two being of equal size. Windows 
are treated in like manner, with the exception of those on the 
west or garden front — of which more anon. How far more 
ornamental and attractive is this style than the rigid uniformity 
which is de rigiieiir in these later days. 

On the inner side of the right projection of the E may be 
seen a peep-hole in the centre of a stone let into the brickwork ; 
formerly used, no doubt, to see whether friend or foe was ap- 
proaching,— if the latter, to give timely warning to those within 
whom it might concern. 

The west or garden front has an inner meaning, which is of 
great interest when one recalls how dangerous it was three hund- 
red years ago to betray any religious feelings. There are twelve 
large latticed windows with stone mullions — signifying the 
twelve Apostles ; four gables — the four Evangelists ; and a door 
opening into the garden through a grape vine, which is always 
kept cut in the form of a cross, and is strong and vigorous still, 
though probably — judging by the immense size of its stem — as 
old as the house to which it clings. This vine does not bear any 
grapes ; in fact, it seems almost to have reverted to a wild state, 
since it bears only, and but rarely, tiny clusters of minute berries. 

Let us enter by this door. We find ourselves in a small hall 
at the foot of the principal staircase, the oak balusters of which 
are beautifully carved ; oak panelling is all around ; a painting of 
the Four Seasons — said to be by La Guerre, who painted many 
of the ceilings of the Louvre — crowns the ceiling. The painting 
is set in heavily-carved festoons of flowers, with coats of arms 
on either side, and monograms entwined. Presently we will 
ascend this staircase ; but 1 would show you, first, the rooms on 
the ground floor. Turning to the right, we find ourselves in a 



72 Castle Bronwicb 

Hall, large and rather low, entirely panelled with dark oak, which, 
over the fireplace, round the cornice, on the tops of shutters and 
doors, is very elaborately carved. The design of the ceiling is 
rather remarkable : there are three crossway beams, heavily 
carved ; and between these are what is known as the stirrup 
pattern — white on pale green background. Perhaps, though, 
the most interesting feature in the Hall is the inscription on the 
back of the old iron grate : ' b '^' for John and Mary Bridgeman ; 
date, if 1 recollect rightly, 1702. 

if this grate could but speak, what tales might it not unfold of 
the lives of the many who here have lived and loved, sorrowed 
and rejoiced, and passed away to the "land of shadows" ; indi- 
vidually forgotten it may be, but held in thankful remembrance 
by the writer as those to whom is owing a great debt of gratitude 
for having made this lovely home what it is ! 

In one corner stands a "grandfather's clock," which, besides 
telling the hours, has on the face of it a tale to unfold. The face 
of this clock has two hands, and is more modern ; but the case is 
the original one. Some twelve or fourteen years ago, " The Sta- 
tion-master, Castle Bromwich," received a letter, thus addressed, 
from an unknown individual in Lincolnshire, stating that he pos- 
sessed an old clock, upon the case of which was carved "castle 
BROMWICH " and " edward devereux," also his coat of arms ; and 
asking, "Was there still anyone of that name living in the place, 
as he was willing to part with it ?" Of course, we lost no time 
in acquiring the clock. In all probability it and Castle Bromwich 
parted company when the Devereux family did ; and so, after two 
hundred odd years, it has returned to its first home. Certainly 
this is a very telling instance of how small the world is. 

Another thing to be noticed in the Hall, which seems typical 
of a house of this date, is that in the upper panes of the latticed 
windows are the coats of arms, in lovely coloured glass, of the 




THE WEST FRONT, CASTLE BROMWICH, SHOWING THE CROSS 



73 



74 dastle Bromwicb 

various families who have owned the house : Devereux, Ferrers, 
Corbet, etc. ; with the date on one of them, I think, 1523 ; and 
in one pane are the Royal arms. The date of most of these is 
uncertain, as is also the reason of their insertion ; but the most 
curious glass of any is to be found in the Study, which, to my 
mind, is the cosiest and sunniest room in the house, it opens 
out of the Hall, and, like it, is lined with dark oak panelling ; and 
the two large windows looking south and west are tilled with 
this interesting old glass. Most of the saints of the English Cal- 
endar are here introduced, and the descriptions of them are so 
quaint that I transcribe them all at length, at the risk of boring 
the reader. ^ . 

On January firft day for our Souls Good 
In Circumcision fhew his body's bloud 
on fixtii by Wise Men gifts to liim were given 
on five iSr twentietli Paul waf Cald fro heaven. 

Mary That bleffed mayden-bryde 
February the fecond was PvRifyED. 
Terme ends the TwElfth : &• Ivdas Lot. 
the twenty fifth Mathias gott. 

In March Gabriel Tydeing brings. 

of Marys breeding King of Kings. 

this moneth Queen Elizabeth &■ King James dye 

whose place his fon King Charles fupplyed. 

!n aprill fun and Rayn 

S' George in April comes at twenty-three, (jj^e to a woman) 

VntO the CovRT in high folemnity, ^° ^^ine & fhower at once tis 

very comon 
And two days after Mark the Evangelift, greit a womans hart can peirce 

The holy penman of the Works of Christ. ^^ ^^ one breatiffhee can both 



S' Phillipp and S'^ Iaccob like Two Twins 
Their memories on this firft day begins, 
Tis a good entrance to the month of May 
When two fuch Glorious Saints do lead ye way. 



laugh &■ weep 




75 



1^ (Taetle Bromwict) 

The twenty fourth of Ivne was Baptist borne 
The Twenty ninth S' Peter loft his Head 
fo may we live (though to the vyorld a fcorn) 
as we may be with them when we are dead. 

Mary'' Magdalen if you begin 

to Confeffe Repent &- Ceafe from fin 

in with the Apoftle Iames you fhali arrive 

unto that beft which no time fhall deprive. 

The firft of Avgust Bonds on Peter layd : 

the tenth S' Lavrens BroyIed unto death ; 

the fifteenth Mary was assumed (tis fayd :) 

the four &- twentieth Bartholomew loft his breath. 

September brings : St Vrbridge y^auiNOCTiA 
Holy Rood <£r S' Mathews feftivall 
Michael the Archangel or Christ named, so 
who foyld the Dragon o"" infernal foe. 

The fixteenth of October's Lvke's the writer 
of Gospel & the Acts : (god the inditer,) 
The twenty eight Simon &• lude : Thefe three 
in this month by the Church Remembered be. 

The firft is All Saints : Fift the Powder plot 
the eleventh S' Martin, laft S' Andrews lot. 
Lord make vs to begin &• end our dayes 
for life fir fayth as firft &- laft of thefe. 

S' Thomas : Sr Nativity of Christ : 

S' Steven : &- S' Iohn : the Evangelist : 

and the Innocents : thefe days this moneth doth hollow 

Lord as they led the way, grant we may follow. 

The lettering I have copied exactly ; the pictures are impossible 
to reproduce, being so small — almost like miniatures. But here 
we must not dally any longer, as there is still much to see. 

' This has perceptibly been repaired. 




A CORNER OF THE HALL, CASTLE BROMWICH 



77 




79 



8o Castle Bromwlcb 

We cross the Hall again, and may notice, in passing through, 
in the window opposite the staircase, the arms entwined of the 
present occupiers of Castle Bromwich, placed there two years 
ago. Leaving the staircase on the right, we enter the Dining- 
room, which is panelled with pitched pine, in those far-away 
days — before steam was thought of — considered of far greater 
value than the oak close at hand, as it was brought from America 
at great cost of time and money. The ceiling is very richly 
carved, or moulded, in a design of fruit and shells ; with arms 
and monograms introduced. The arms in these windows are 
comparatively modern, being those of the first and second Earl 
and Countess of Bradford of the second creation ; but the por- 
traits date back more than two hundred years. 

Here hang Bishop Bridgeman (of Chester), who for loyalty 
to Church and King was deprived of his bishopric ; and his son. 
Sir Orlando, a lawyer of great eminence, and successively Lord 
Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Lord Chief Justice of the Common 
Pleas, and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, under King Charles IL, 
who in 1660 created him a Baronet. This estate was bought by 
Sir Orlando and his son John, who succeeded him, and whose 
portrait is also in this room. The second Sir John, grandson of 
Sir Orlando, married Ursula, sole heir of Roger Matthews of 
Blodwell, and representative of Athelstan, Prince of Ferolis. He 
was succeeded by his son. Sir Orlando, on whose marriage with 
Anne, daughter, and in her issue sole heir of Richard Newport, 
second Earl of Bradford of the first creation, the Weston estates 
passed into the family. (The other two portraits in the Dining- 
room are by Sir Peter Lely, and represent Charlotte, daughter of 
Sir Orlando, Lord Keeper, and wife to Sir T. Middleton of Chirk ; 
and Nell Gwynne.) This Lady Anne Newport was sister to the 
last two Earls of Bradford of the first creation. 

The Newport family merits special mention, dating back to 







A CORNER OF THE DRAWING-ROOM, CASTLE BROMWICH 



8i 



82 Caetle Broimvicb 

1 39 1, and tracing its descent to tlie Princes of Powys ; William 
Newport, who was Sheriff of Shropshire in 1473, having married 
the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Griffith-ap- 
Gwenwynwyn, Prince of Powyswenwynwyn temp. Edward 1. . 

But 1 have allowed my pen to digress, and I would show you 
now a beautiful little Sitting-room beyond the Dining-room. Here, 
again, on two sides we have the pitched-pine panelling^and on 
the other tv/o, lovely tapestry — probably Aubusson, depicting 
'' Watteau " scenes. On the ceiling is a circle of heavily-moulded 
fruit and tlowers. Hitherto 1 have forgotten to point out the 
over-doors, which in every room are richly carved, and the space 
between door and over-doors is filled with old Delft, which has a 
very good effect. In modern houses but too little thought is 
given to the ornamentation of doors. 

Now you have seen round two sides of the Court on this 
floor; the rest is given up to the housekeeper's room, pantry, 
butler's room, etc., etc. Let us now mount to the first fioor by 
the staircase already described, the walls of which are hung with 
stamped leather paper, and covered with pictures, which are all 
of historic or family interest, though the painters were not of 
great renown. We notice a small head of Charles 1., large por- 
traits of James II., Mary of Modena, the Duke of Ormonde, etc. 

On the left, at the top of the staircase, we enter the Drawing- 
room, which looks over the garden, and is altogether a charming 
room. Three large latticed windows almost monopolise one 
side, leaving only room between for tv/o glasses (in beautiful 
Chippendale frames). The remaining walls are covered with 
tapestry of lovely design. It was made in Brussels from cartoons 
by Teniers, and was bought out of a palace in Spain by the second 
Earl of Bradford some eighty years ago, and it exactly fits the 
room. 

There are two large panels, about 18 x 15 ft., and one smaller. 




83 



Castle Bromwicb 85 

On two of the panels the following is the usual Brussels mark : a 
shield between two B"s ; followed by p.v.d. borcht — i.e., Peter 
Van der Borght, the Dutch maker. The colouring is wonderfully 
vivid, considering that it is over a hundred years old. The ceil- 
ing is of the same style as those in the Dining-room and Sitting- 
room, very richly carved in a most elaborate design, the centre 
part of it thrown up several feet higher than the rest. 

We pass on into the Gallery, a long, low room, entirely pan- 
elled in dark oak ; and here the ceiling is of the more severe 
style, similar somewhat to that in the Hall, which is known as 
the strap-and-buckle pattern. Bedrooms open out of the Gallery 
at the far end on either side, and in them we tlnd tapestry and 
panelling. 

In one of the windows of the Gallery are the arms of Sir Ed- 
ward Devereux and his wife Katherine ; in another, those of Sir 
Orlando and his wife ; and the large window of pink glass, filling 
one end of the Gallery, has the arms of several later members of 
the Bridgeman family. All the bedrooms on this floor, and most 
of those above again, are panelled, and have some arms or figures 
in the windows. In one is a Bishop in his robes. One of the 
bedrooms is named by tradition ''The Priest's Room." It pos- 
sesses a cleverly contrived "hiding hole" in one corner, in the 
panelling ; and behind the panelling in another corner is a tiny 
staircase, seeming to lead up on to the roof and out among the 
gables, but now blocked up. Between the door and the fireplace 
in the panelling is a small recess with a halo carved above, and it 
is surmised that here the Priest kept the chalice. There is an- 
other so-called "hiding hole" half way down one of the back 
staircases. 

Now let us retrace our steps to the top of the front staircase, 
and turning to the right we come into a delighful suite of rooms, 
which has been occupied by the Duke of Connaught, the Duke 



86 



Caetle Bromwicb 



and Duchess of Teck, Prince and Princess Christian, and the 
Duke and Duchess of York. The bedroom of this suite is lined 
with panelling and arras, and has a lovely ceiling, in which the 
Tudor Rose is oft repeated. 

The Garden must now claim our attention, and 'will indeed 
tax my ingenuity to describe, although I see it day by day, and 
know every inch of it, and love. every yard of it with all my 
heart. Having lived in it for close upon twenty-one years, how 
could 1 help but love it ? Yet, to describe it, to bring it before 
you, seems almost an impossibility, but it must be attempted. 
The Garden, then, may be said to be divided, into ten parts, by 
hedges of yew, holly, box, privet and hornbeam. It is sur- 
rounded entirely by red brick walls, which walls are almost cov- 
ered by flowering creepers of every sort and kind. 

Stepping out of 
the door through 
y the vine, we look 
through a vista of 
arches covered with 
ivy. In the centre 
of this garden — 
which is laid out in 
four sets of formal 
beds — is a large 
stone vase, and on 
either side are arches over which are trained Noisette roses — red, 
white and pink. In these arches the doves, which tly about 
the garden, and are so tame as to eat out of the hand, build their 
nests. 

In the wall on the right hand there is a small room attached 
to an open-air bath, which was made in 173^, as is testified by 
the following letter, which is addressed to "The Reverend Mr. 




THE ROSE WALK 




87 



88 Castle Bromwicb 

Roger Bridgeman, at Richards' Coffee House, near Temple Barr, 
London," and is as follows : — 

" Dear Roger, — 

" 1 am to thank you for two Letters, and am glad of the 
account they give of your Amendment, and hope (in God) that 
you may be reftored to a much better ftate of Health than you 
have been for fome time of late, and that you may be perfect in 
your Healtli, and have gathered fo much ftrength, as to under- 
take a journey to Caftle Bromwich, where you fhall be ever 
Wellcome to me. 1 am making in my Garden Houfe (in the Beft 
Garden) a Cold Bath, and adjoyning to it, have a Room with 
a tire place in it, not only for my Grand Children, but will prove 
any Grown Person, and recommend you to ask the D"". and 
Surgeon theyr thoughts of your making up of fuch an application, 
when it pleafe God you may ufe it with fafety. This Family fend 
you both Bleffing and aflec^^ fervice, and Judy hopes you rec^. 
her Letter dated y^ 22"^^ inft : with a Bill in it of thirty pounds ; 
the beft news is, that this neighbourhood is in Good Health : 
that you may have merry Xmafs and a long feries of new years 
is the real wifhes of 

" Dear Roger, 
"Your very affec'^ Father, 

"J. Bridgeman. 

"The 26th of Dec^, 1733." 

I make no apology for quoting this letter /// extenso, for it would 
be interesting for its age alone, apart from, the mention of the 
making of the bath. 

A conservatory stands at either corner of this garden. In the 
early spring these are bowers of roses. Box hedges, wide and 
thick, form as it were a boundary to this, the front garden ; they 
are on a lower level, the tops of them just showing a couple of 



90 Caetle 15rom\x)icb 

feet above the gravel walk ; we descend between them a flight 
of old stone steps, upon the top and bottom of which stand 
moss-grown stone vases, with the Bridgeman arms carved upon 
them, though these are rapidly becoming effaced by time. In. 
this part of the Garden all is given up to shrubberies and lawn. 
Grassy paths intersect the shrubberies, which are filled with 
flowering shrubs and trees of all kinds : Snowy Mespilus, which 
in spring resembles a chocolate cake well sugared, with its white, 
starry blossoms and brown leaves ; changing in the autumn to 
every shade of crimson, more vivid even than the American 
maple. This tree is but too little known. The Pirus Salicifolia 
is another most graceful tree : the foliage is of brightest silvery 
tinge, very drooping and feathery ; and in the spring it bears a 
lovely sweet white blossom, something in scent and appearance 
between May and pear. In the upper shrubbery there is a fine 
specimen of a Glastonbury thorn, which flowers every winter ; 
I have picked flowers from it on Christmas day. 

Beyond the shrubberies is a wide grass glade, known as the 
Archery Ground ; bounded on the lower side by variegated holly 
hedges, about thirty feet high. These are on a lower level again, 
and connect the lower and middle gardens — or, should 1 say, 
divide them ? — the lower garden of the three being beyond them. 
These hedges — which are said to be unique — have a wide 
gravel walk between them, and are Ave hundred and forty feet 
in length. They are kept trimmed, and are undoubtedly as old 
as the house ; the stems are of great thickness, and here and 
there the branches have turned into the ground, taken root, and 
thrown up fresh trees. At either end of this walk stands a red 
brick building, with stone figures and facings, and a pointed roof, 
on the summit of which is the family crest : the lion holding a 
wreath, and on either end a fox, the second crest granted to the 
Bridgemans. 




THE STABLES, CASTLE BROMWICH 



91 



92 Castle Bromwicb 

And now 1 would lead you to the third and lowest terrace 
of the Garden. In the centre stands an ancient stone vase, and 
radiating from it the shrubberies are repeated, with grassy paths 
intersecting ; and here also we have a maze, without which no 
garden of this period would be perfect. It is about six feet high, 
is planted in holly and quick, and is laid out on the same plan as 
the one at Hampton Court. And it is indeed a puzzle to the un- 
initiated ; and what a refuge for small birds ! — many a nest here 
escapes the sharpest eye ; hawfinches nest here annually. 

Parallel with these three terrace gardens, and on either side 
of them, are the fruit-garden and kitchen-garden — concealed 
from the centre by hedges of various kinds, forming nooks and 
corners impossible to describe. 

I could tell you of long borders of orange trees, sunk in large 
pots, which were brought from Italy by Lord Newport some 
years ago ; of tall and stately hollyhocks of every hue ; roses, 
carnations, asters — all blending in lovely harmony with the box 
and hornbeam hedges, and the warm red brick walls with stone 
coping, and balls greened over by Time's imperceptible hand. 

On the north side of the house lies a garden entirely sur- 
rounded by yew hedges, about twenty-five feet high, standing 
out thick and dense some twelve feet from the walls behind 
them. This garden is monopolised by three specimen trees, — 
a tulip, a beech, a birch, — beds of rhododendrons, variegated 
hollies, and last, but not least, a pink thorn planted by the 
Duke and Duchess of York in 1897, on the silver wedding-day of 
their host and hostess. 

Opposite the north door of the house, on the far side of this 
garden, are the graceful iron gates leading to the Church, of Queen 
Anne architecture, and pronounced by the late Mr. Christian, the 
eminent architect, to be one of the best specimens of that period. 
It was built by the second Sir John Bridgeman on the site of a 



Castle Bromwicb 93 

former chapel, as it was then called. In fact, this is said to be 
the third that has stood upon this spot, and above the present 
plain ceiling still remain the carved oak rafters of a former roof, 
and the oaken pillars which supported it are thought to be inside 
the rounded plaster pillars of the present church. 

The silver Paten is most remarkable, and is believed to date 
back to about 1350. There is but one other like it known to 
exist, and that is at Hamstall Ridware, in Staffordshire. The altar 
and reredos are of marble with gold veining, now extremely rare. 
The windows, with one small exception of very old glass, are 
memorial, and represent St. Mary the Virgin, St. Mary Magdalen, 
and St. Margaret — the church being dedicated to these saints. 
The windows recently put in were to the memory of the second 
Earl and Countess of Bradford and their daughters. 

Now let me take you to see the Stables. We leave the 
Church by a walk shaded by ancient yews, and pass through 
a small door, which takes us along an alley with a high wall on 
one side and a yew hedge on the other. The Stables were cer- 
tainly built a good deal later than the house, being in Queen 
Anne style. They are on a large scale, very capacious and 
roomy, and are fitted with old oak. They face south, and look 
into a paddock. Behind them, again, we find the laundry, dairy, 
brewhouse, gardener's cottage, poultry and pig yards, all most 
compact and convenient, and all surrounded by high brick walls ; 
and within these walls fine old elms, horse-chestnuts, Spanish 
chestnuts, sycamores, etc., stand as guardians. Formerly there 
were four beautiful avenues outside the gardens, on three sides 
of the house: three of elms — gigantic trees, fourteen of which 
we saw go down in a few minutes in a fearful gale — and one of 
variegated sycamores, also splendid trees, all of which, except 
three, fell during a hurricane two years ago. Indeed, the wind 
has played sad havoc round Castle Bromwich ; standing as it 



94 (Tastle Bromwicb 

does on the top of a hill, and lying between two valleys, along 
which flow two rivers, the Tame and the Cole, it is the rallying- 
point of every wind that blows. 

And now I have brought you round to our starting-point, 
the south front ; and here I take my leave, hoping to have suc- 
ceeded in conveying to the reader that, though Castle Bromwich 
cannot claim to be one of the Stately Homes of which England 
is so full, it yields to none in perfection of detail in the particular 
style which it represents ; and one would certainly have to go 
far and seek widely before finding a more entirely delightful and 
comfortable home. 



fS 



Castle Ibowarb 



95 




CASTLE HOWARD, FROM THE LAKE 



CASTLE HOWARD 



BY LORD RONALD SUTHERLAND GOWER 



WHEN Pope wrote of Sir John Vanbrugh " How Van 
wants grace!" he cannot have intended to refer to 
his buildings, but to his plays; and if by "grace" 
decency is understood, he was not misjudging the clever 
architect-play writer. 

Certainly Castle Howard does not lack grace. A more 
majestic pile of its peculiar style — " a vicious style," it has been 
called — does not exist in England. And it would not be easy 
to match, out of Italy, its beautiful dome, rising a hundred feet 
in air ; or its splendid south front, over-rich in decoration, 
and forming altogether a frontage which looks more like one 
of Pannini's paintings of an imaginary palace than a solid 
reality in stone. "Sublime," Horace Walpole calls Castle 

97 



98 



Castle 1bowai& 



Howard ; and, strong as is the term, it is not much beyond the 
truth. 

It is somewhat difficult to give a name to the architectural 

style of Castle Howard. Flamboyant Classic, it might be called. - 

1 rely on the illustrations of the building in this article to give 

some idea of this great pile ; no description, or enumeration of 

the height, length, and breadth of its dome and galleries, can 

bring it more 
clearly before my 
readers than the 
admirable views 
which accom- 
pany this article. 
The Great 
Hall, which Chan- 
trey is said to 
have thought the 
fi n e s t in the 
county, is some- 
what spoilt by 
the mythological 
paintings that 
cover its walls ; 
even the dome is 
all aglow with 
the fall of Phae- 
ton ; these are 
the work of one 
Pellegrini, painted in 1712. The Hall is lined with antique 
statues, all more or less restored, and none of much merit. 1 am: 
told that these statues were brought from Rome by the fourth 
Earl of Carlisle, and never touched land, after leaving Civita 




THE HALL, CASTLE HOWARD 




L.ofC. 



99 



loo Castle Ibowart) 

Vecchia, until they reached York. Opposite the great fireplace 
is a terribly baroque mass of scagliola, looking like a funereal 
monument to Bacchus, whose statue fronts it. 

Let us follow the long eastern corridor, its sides lined with ' 
antiques, busts, statues, and funereal urns. The latter, when 
cremation again becomes the mode (and the most sensible mode 
of burial is cremation), may form suggestive models for recept- 
acles of the ashes of our wealthy dead. There is nothing in the 
form, shape or character of these "little last homes" of marble 
that is unpleasant to eye or sense ; no death's heads or cross- 
bones appear on them, but birds and garlands and flowers, as 
presaging a certain hope of a bright hereafter. 

At the end of this corridor we turn to the right and enter 
a Saloon which terminates in a hall leading down to the beautiful 
Chapel, "all glorious within" with marble frescoes, and with 
some of Kempe's most beautiful decorated work. The walls of 
the hall are covered with superb Gobelin tapestry, after Detroy's 
designs of the story of Esther. To the left of this Saloon we 
enter the Long Gallery, where, all in a row, many in Garter robes 
and ribands, hang the painted presentments of the former owners 
of Castle Howard, "Belted Will" (Lord William Howard) and 
his famous wife heading the long procession ; both are full-length 
portraits by Cornelius Janssen. 

Sir Walter Scott has made Lord William famous under the 
sobriquet of " Belted Will," in his poems; but he was better 
known to his contemporaries by that of " Bawld Wyllie." His 
wife was Lady Elizabeth Dacre. Where Castle Howard now 
raises its pinnacles, stood the old Castle of Hinderskelff ; this was 
one of Lord William's possessions, another being the old Border 
keep of Naworth in Cumberland. It was at "Naworth that Lord 
William lived in great state, with a bodyguard numbering 170 men, 
and from Naworth he defended the Border from Scottish inroads. 



dastlc 1bowar^ loi 

Many stories are told of him in Cumberland ; the following 
is, I believe, authentic. 

One day, while working in his study, he was told of the 
capture of a Scottish freebooter. "Hang him!" he impatiently 
said. This was immediately carried into execution. Whether 
the unlucky man had Jedburgh justice — i.e., a trial after the 
execution, is not recorded. 

The fine old Castle of Naworth has luckily been left in the 
same state as when " Belted Will " lived there, and his library 
is still intact. The approach to his rooms is secured by strong 
plated doors, bolted with iron ; these strong doors defend a 
narrow winding staircase, where only one person can ascend 
at a time. 

To judge by his portrait, Lord William was a man of inches, 
with a stern, hard countenance — "dour," the Scotch would call it. 

Charles Howard, first Earl of Carlisle, was the great-grandson 
of " Belted Will." There are two portraits here of him, the best 
being the one by Lely. A biography of this Earl would be in- 
teresting, for he was, besides being a man of mark, a great 
traveller for those days. He travelled in Europe, and was sent 
out as Governor to Jamaica ; and he was Ambassador to Russia, 
Sweden and Denmark in 1663-64, also figuring conspicuously in 
the latter years of Cromwell's protectorate and in the early ones 
of the reign of Charles 11. 

He had been a favourite of the Protector's, and was created 
by him Viscount Howard of Morpeth. At Worcester he fought 
under Oliver's standard, and was Captain of the Protector's Life 
Guards. With commendable shrewdness, on finding what a 
feeble successor the Protector had left in his son Richard, Lord 
Howard sided with Monk, and was one of the members of the 
Convention Parliament that restored Charles, by whom he was 
created Earl of Carlisle. 



I02 Castle 1bowar& 

It is to the credit of this Earl that he preferred serving his 
country in what must have been most unpleasant ambassadorial 
journeys to enjoying his ease and riches at home, where in the 
northern counties he had almost as many estates as Ahasuerus 
had provinces. 1 have no space for even a bare summary of his 
many voyages ; but an account of his embassy to Russia, which 
is supposed, but without much foundation, to have been written 
_ , _ _, by Andrew Marvell, who 

~\ ^ accompanied the Earl to 

Muscovy a s secretary, 
has been recently repub- 
lished, and is well worth 
reading. Macaulay, so 
seldom wrong about a 
book, states that a 
French translation of this 
work, published at Am- 
sterdam in 1572, was the 
original, whereas the 
English account ap- 
peared in London in 
1669. Carlisle was one 
of f o u r Howards who 
voted for Strafford's con- 
I ^/^;;;///'/v - '-^^^■'^ ^■^f^''^ demnation, but when 



7//'//>M 




FREDERICK HOWARD, SIXTH EARL OF CARLISLE 

AFTER A DRAWING BY EDRIDGE 



too late he attempted to 
get the death sentence 
commuted to one of banishment. A staunch opponent of the 
Duke of York, whose crooked character he had fathomed, Carlisle 
tried to get Charles to legitimise Monmouth. He died in 1687, 
and a stately monument was raised to his memory in York 
Minster. His grandson, the third Earl, was the builder of Castle 



Castle Ibowart) 



103 




Howard, and interesting only for that reason. In his portrait 
he appears in the guise of a consequential, pompous little man, 
bewigged and berobed, with a Pepysian type of countenance, 
fondling his coronet with a little fat hand. In the background 
appears Castle Howard. 

Kneller painted both this Earl and Vanbrugh, in his famous 
series of portraits for the 
Kit-Kat Club : my lord 
Carlisle with his wand 
of office ; for he was a 
great personage at Court 
— deputy Earl Marshal, 
Gentleman of the Bed- 
chamber, and with other 
styles and titles and offi- 
ces which fill a column. 
How poor a thing is all 
this tinsel of rank, title 
and office, even with 
Castle Howard to place 
behind one's portrait, 
compared to John How- 
ard, apprentice to a gro- 
cer, and son of the 
Smithfield upholsterer ! 
What a contrast in birth, fortune, and social condition ! However, 
John Howard fills an immeasurably higher place in the history 
of humanity than all the dukes and earls of the Howard race 
rolled together. Like Livingstone, John Howard, after a life of 
devotion to the prisoner and oppressed, died in harness, a martyr 
to his life-work, in quest of fresh acts of devotion to the outcasts 
of this hard world. 







%, 



A 



/ 



V;> \ 



^/^>Jv*' 



FREDERICK, FIFTH EARL OF CARLISLE 

AFTER A PASTEL BY G. HAMILTON, 1772 



I04 daetle IbowarD 

The third Earl's son collected the antique statues of Castle 
Howard probably during a "grand tour" in Italy, and built the 
Mausoleum which is such an important feature on the garden side 
of the place. Here he and his descendants have been laid to rest 
for over a century and a half, although many of these would doubt- 
less have preferred to rest under the turf rather than in gloomy 
vaults with a quarry-load of stone for ever reposing on them. 

The fifth Earl, Frederick, son of the above, is by far the most 
interesting of my maternal ancestors. Born in 1748, he lost his 
father ten years later. His mother was a Byron, great-aunt to 
the poet, consequently the poet and the Earl were first cousins 
once removed. The refusal of Lord Carlisle (who was Byron's 
guardian as well as his cousin) to introduce him when he took 
his seat in the House of Lords, led to that quarrel which was 
made famous by the well-known passage in Byron's greatest 
poem, the passage beginning with the words "Their praise is 
hymn'd by loftier harps than mine." Perhaps owing to the fault 
of those who brought him up, Frederick Howard when he came 
of age became one of the wildest of the young Whig aristocrats, 
and for his own misfortune and his descendants' loss fell in love 
with the green cloth, round which he passed many a night play- 
ing deeply at Brookes's and White's. We hear of his losing at 
one sitting ^10,000 — "ten times more," he writes to his old 
friend George Selwyn, "than 1 ever lost before." He promised 
Selwyn that he would never touch another card, but gambled 
again and lost again, until he suddenly reformed, becoming a 
thoroughly respectable and devoted husband, an affectionate 
father, and serving his country to the best of his ability in Ireland 
and in America. 

Brought up with Charles Fox at Eton and at Cambridge, he 
had entered with him into the dissolute life of the day ; we read 
of the two friends crossing over to France to buy embroidered 



io6 Castle Ibowart) 

waistcoats in Paris — those gorgeous garments tliree feet long, as 
we see them in Zoftany's and Gainsborough's paintings. Tliack- 
eray has written in his lectures on the Four Georges a de- 
lightful passage about Frederick Howard: "He had married at 
one-and-twenty, and found himself, in the midst of a dissolute 
society, at the head of a great fortune. Forced into luxury, and 
obliged to be a great lord and a great idler, he yielded to some 
temptations, and paid for them a bitter penalty of manly remorse ; 
from some others he fled wisely, and ended by conquering them 
nobly. But he always had the good wife and children in his 
mind, and they saved him. ' 1 am very glad you did not come 
to me the morning 1 left London,' he writes to G. Selwyn, as he 
is embarking for America. ' I can only say 1 never knew till that 
moment what grief was.' There is no parting now where they 
are. The faithful wife, the kind, generous gentleman, have left a 
noble race behind them ; an inheritor of his name and titles, who 
is beloved as widely as he is known — a man most kind, accom- 
plished, gentle, friendly and pure ; and female descendants oc- 
cupying high stations and embellishing great names — some 
renowned for beauty, and all for spotless lives and pious, ma- 
tronly virtues." Nearly half a century has passed since Thack- 
eray wrote the above, and the descendants of the Earl of Carlisle 
of whom he writes have followed him to the silent land. "The 
inheritor of his name " was the seventh Earl of Carlisle, grandson 
of Frederick Howard ; the accomplished man whom the great 
writer so truly describes as a man "beloved as widely as he is 
known " ; and whose vice-royalty in Ireland in the middle of the 
century is still remembered with aflection by the Irish. 

There must have been something very lovable in the man 
who wrote the following letter to Selwyn : this letter is dated 
"Castle Howard, Aug. 2, 1776," when Lord Carlisle was eight- 
and-twenty. 



(Tactic Ibowar^ 



107 




" Brought up to no profession, I have only to regret that no 
road of that kind is open to me, that, at the same time I was re- 
trieving my affairs, I was adding to my reputation. I do protest 
to you that I am so tired of my present manner of passing my 
time — however I may be kept in countenance by the number of 
those of my own rank and superior fortune — that 1 never reflect 
on it without shame. If they will employ me in any part of the 
world, 1 will accept ^ _ _, 

the employment, let 
it tear me, as it will, 
from everything dear 
to me in this country. 
My friends and my 
family have a right to 
call upon me for the 
sacrifice, and 1 will 
submit to it with the 
resolution of a man. 
There are two events 
in my life for which 
1 shall always be 
grateful to fortune ; — 
one for having mar- 
ried me to the best 
woman in the world ; 
the other, for having 
linked me in so close a friendship with yourself, in spite of dis- 
parity of years and pursuits. These are consolations to me in 
my blackest moments ; and I am too sensible of her merits not 
to entertain the sincerest attachment and regard for her, and the 
truest sense of your goodness to me." 

Lord Carlisle's wife, of whom he writes as " the best woman 




CAROLINE QOWER, COUNTESS OF CARLISLE IN 1772. 

AFTER THE PASTEL By G. HAMILTON AT CASTLE HOWARD 



io8 



Castle Ibowarb 



in the world," was born a Gower. He had married her in 1770 ; 
she was in her youth beautiful, and there are several portraits of 
her — one by Sir Joshua at Castle Howard. Among others are 
two small oval pastels of Lord and Lady Carlisle, taken a couple 
of years after their marriage, by Hamilton ; these 1 have copied 
for this paper. 

George Selwyn, who was a kind of elder Jonathan to Fred- 
erick Howard, was thirty years older. In one of the most ill- 
compiled of books, Jesse's George Selwyn and his Contemporaries, 







CASTLE HOWARD FROM THE SOUTH-EAST 



appear many of Lord Carlisle's letters. We get from that book 
an insight into Selwyn's character, for it is made up entirely of 
letters to, and not from, Selwyn. His letters, and the papers at 
Castle Howard, have been edited by the Historical MSS. Com- 
missioners. At Castle Howard are also some curious letters from 
Sir J. Vanbrugh, treating more of matters political than architec- 
tural. Vanbrugh's allusions to Sarah Duchess of Marlborough 
are the very reverse of complimentary. The fifth Earl dabbled in 
poetry ; and although his plays and long poems are unreadable, 
some lines by him addressed to Sir Joshua Reynolds, when the 
President wished to resign his post at the Academy in 1790, are 




log 



I lO 



Castle Ibowarb 



excellent ; they commence, "Too wise for contest, and too meek 
for strife." Both Lord and Lady Carlisle lived well into the last 
century, he dying in 1825, only surviving "the best woman in 
the world " a year. 

There are several portraits here by Reynolds of this Earl ; in 
one he appears seated with his beloved Selwyn, the latter's 

favourite pug "Raton" 
with them. Selwyn's 
somewhat coarse feat- 
ures appear, as might 
be expected, several 
times at Castle How- 
ard ; here also is a copy 
of a pastel of that cele- 
brated wit by G. Hamil- 
ton. One of Selwyn's 
strongest and least ami- 
able traits was a morbid 
love of seeing execu- 
tions, and looking at 
corpses — whether 
those of his friends or 
of strangers ; the most 
amiable trait was his 
devotion to children. Lord Carlisle when quite an old man 
was painted in the Gallery at Castle Howard by Jackson : 
he wears his riband and Garter ; a much changed man from 
when he sat to Reynolds, but looking what he always was, a 
tres grand seigneur. Both as a youth and as a gouty old gen- 
tleman, Frederick Howard must always have had charm. He be- 
longed to a type which for better or worse has nearly disappeared 
from the land. His eldest son succeeded as sixth Earl ; he filled 




TEMPLE AT END OF THE GREEN TERRACE 




THE CHAPEL, CASTLE HOWARD 
Cthis chapel was decorated by c. e. kemp) 



1 1 2 (Tastle Ibowart) 

some State offices, and married the eldest daughter of the beauti- 
ful Duchess of Devonshire. To me he is chiefly interesting as 
having been my mother's father. 

Among these portraits of the Carlisles is a full-leng:th of a 
cardinal. This was a Howard, but not of Carlisle. His father 
was the Earl of Arundel, the great collector. When travelling as 
a youth in Italy with his fLither, he fell under the intluence of the 
priests and entered the Dominican order. He appears to have 
led a somewhat eventful life, coming to England to shrive the 
unfortunate Papists on their road to Tyburn. Charles 11. 's queen, 
Catherine of Braganza, appointed him her Almoner ; but he was 
obliged to leave England in 1O71, going first to Brussels, and 
afterwards founding two or three monasteries in Flanders, and 
receiving his cardinal's hat from Clement X. In Rome, his church 
was that of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where in the semicircular 
choir he rests under a plain marble slab. He had willed that he 
should be buried where all the congregation might see his tomb 
and pray for his soul. Clement had given him over /2000 a 
year, which sum the good Cardinal spent on the poor of Rome. 
Frugal and unostentatious in his habits, he used to dine daily 
with the monks of his order in their refectory in the Monastery 
of S. Sabina. The Italians called him Ovjrd di Norfoh'ii/ — at 
least so his name appears on an engraving representing him 
superintending the roasting of an ox for the Romans, in cele- 
bration of the Old Pretender's birthday. This portrait is by 
Carlo Maratti, and was given to a Lord Carlisle by Cardinal 
Ottobuoni. 

But enough of family portraits. 

We now pass into a square room, which is called the Museum, 
owing to the antiquities it contains — or rather contained, for the 
contents of this room have been removed ; among these the most 
interesting is a large marble altar, which was brought from Delphi 



Castle Ibowarb 



113 




GRASS TERRACES AT CASTLE HOWARD 



by Nelson, who presented it to the fifth Earl. There are many 
marbles and bronzes here ; the most curious is a statuette in gilt 
bronze of Hercules, which was dug up in Cumberland. 

From the Museum one looks along the vista of rooms which 
face the Garden on the south front — a vista of three hundred 
feet of rooms, rich with 
pictures and art ob- 
jects. The collection 
of paintings is one of 
the first in England, 
and many of the best 
were in the famous 
Orleans collection. In 
these rooms are, or 
were — for the famous 
Mabuse of "The Wise 
Men's Offering " and the superb little Giorgione of a knight and 
his squire have been taken to Naworth — some world-famous 
paintings : to wit, the portrait of Snyders by his friend Van Dyck 
(one of the greatest portraits of the world — its companion, the 
artist's wife, is, or was, at Warwick Castle), — and the "Three 
Marys" (the Entombment), by Annibale Caracci ; besides these 
is a room full of Canalettos, many by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Ru- 
bens, Velasquez, and many others, far too many even to give a 
list of here. 

"No man," writes Allan Cunningham in his delightful book, 
The Lives of British Artists, "who has been satirised by Swift 
and praised by Reynolds, could have much chance of being 
forgotten ; but the fame of him who was at once the author of 
The Relapse and The Provoked Wife, and the architect of Castle 
Howard and Blenheim, stands independent of even such sub- 
sidiaries." Castle Howard was designed in 1702, and William H. 



114 



Castle Ibowar^ 



Prescott, the American historian, writes as follows from Castle 
Howard in 1850 : 

"Wide spreading lawns, large and long avenues of beech 
and oak, beautiful sheets of water, and extensive park, all made 
up a brilliant picture of the softer scenery of England. We passed 
-i-i^piw;) under several ornamented stone arches, 
by a lofty obelisk and at length came 
in full view of the princely home of 
the Howards. It is of clear yellow 
stone, richly ornamented with statues 
and every kind of decoration. It makes 
three sides of a square, and you will 
form some idea of its extent when 1 tell 
you that a suite of rooms continues 
round the house six hundred feet in 
length. 1 have seen doors open through 
the whole front of the building, three 
hundred feet, as long as Park Street — 
a vista indeed. The Great Hall rises to 
the top of the house, is gorgeous with 
decoration, and is of immense size. 
The apartments and interminable cor- 
ridors are tilled with masterpieces of 
art, painting, and sculpture, in every 
room you are surrounded with the most beautiful objects of vertu, 
tables of porphyry and Oriental alabaster, vases of the most ele- 
gant and capricious forms, etc." 

Her late Majesty visited Castle Howard in i8so. Mr. W. H. 
Prescott was present when the Queen arrived, -and in a letter to 
his wife, dated the 24th of August, he describes the visit at some 
length. The following is an extract : — " All now is bustle and 
preparation for the Royal visit which is to come off on the 27th, 




ANTIQUE BRONZE STATUETTE OF 

HERCULES, DISCOVERED NEAR 

NAWORTH 

PRESERVED AT CASTLE HOWARD 




115 



ii6 



Castle IbowarD 



and to take up two days : the Queen and Prince with four 
children, and five-and-twenty in their suite. Lord Carlisle's 
family, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters, all muster 

over twenty. 
The Dining-room 
will be such as 
the Queen cannot 
boast of in Buck- 
ingham Palace ! 
It is to be the 
centre of the fa- 
mous Picture 
Gallery, one hun- 
dred and fifty feet 
long. 

You may imagine 
the show in the 
splendid apart- 
ment, one side of 
which is orna- 
mented with 
statues, and the 
costliest pictures 
of the Orleans 
collection ; the 
other with a no- 



ble Library in rich 
bindings ; the 

windows opening on a velvet lawn, and a silver sheet of 

water." 

Alas ! when the Queen arrived, it was raining torrents ; but 

in spite of the rain the royal visit proved most successful ; and 




THE FIFTH EARL OF CARLISLE 

BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 




THE DINING-HALL, CASTLE HOWARD 



117 



ii8 Castle 1bowar^ 

the American historian fills pages with the description of this 
entertainment of the best of sovereigns. 

Horace Walpole visited Castle Howard in 1772 ; and this is 
what he says about it, writing to George Selwyn : 

''August 12, 1772. 
'' Dear George, — 

" 1 love to please you when it is in my power, and how can 
1 please you more than in commending Castle Howard? For 
though it is not the house that Jack built, yet you love even the 
cow with the crumpled horn that feeds in the meadow that 
belongs to the house that Jack's grandfather built. 

"Indeed, 1 can say with exact truth that 1 was so agreeably 
astonished with the first view of the whole place. 1 had heard 
of Vanbrugh, and how Sir Thomas Robinson and he stood spit- 
ting and swearing at one another ; nay, I had heard of glorious 
views ; and Lord Strafford had told me that 1 should see one 
of the finest places in Yorkshire ; but nobody, no, not votre 
partialite, as Louis Quatorze would have called you, had informed 
me that 1 should at once see a palace, a town, a fortified city, 
temples in high places, woods worthy of being each a metropo- 
lis of the Druids, vales connected to other hills by other woods, 
the noblest lawn in the world fenced by half the horizon, 
and a mausoleum that would tempt one to be buried alive : 
in short, 1 have seen gigantic places before, but never a sublime 
one. For the house, V. has even shown tact in its extent and 
cupolas." 

Indeed, Blenheim excepted, Castle Howard is in its style, 
which Macauley calls " vicious," the finest building of its century 
in England. 

It seems strange that, with the exception of Horace Walpole's 
somewhat intlated description, so little has been written of a 



Castle Ibowart) 119 

building which in beauty of proportion and from its surroundings 
surpasses in splendour many a royal palace. 

Here is a suggestion for those who visit Castle Howard for 
the first time, if they drive, as 1 should advise them to do, from 
York. Let them leave the carriage road at Welburn village and 
mount the hill that rises at the back of the pretty little church 
on the left ; when the hill is ascended the visitor will see the 
view of Castle Howard which Sydney Smith was wont to gaze 
on, and which that witty divine named " Exclamation Point." 

Let me close this article with some verses by my uncle, 
George Howard, seventh Earl of Carlisle, written, in 1832, in 
Lilies ill Yorkshire : 

This lyre might linger with too fond a praise 
O'er Vanbrugh's airy domes and sculptured halls : 
On, to the sterner works of other days — 
Ryland's rent jane and Gilling's ivied walls. 

In Helmsley's tower no Villiers revels now — 
On yonder hills he met untimely doom ; 
At Rivaulx' shrine no sandalled beadsmen bow, 
But Nature's self has canonized their tomb. 

See Fountaine's yet more massive glories rise ; 
On Studley's lawns see Spring eternal bloom ; 
Let Wensley's fertile vale arrest thine eyes, 
Richmond's gay terraces and castled gloom. 

From Calder's fount to Cleveland's mossy hill, 
From Humber's wave to Skipton's mountain hold, 
All forms and hues the varied canvas fill — 
The rich, the soft, the fertile, and the bold. 



©sterlet park 




OSTERLEY FROM THE LAKE 



OSTERLEY PARK 



BY THE COUNTESS OF JERSEY 



WE are told that at the close of the reign of Henry ill. 
the woods of Osterley or Osterlee were the resort of 
" wild cattle, lawlessmen, and fugitive villeins." The 
property belonged to the family of Gizors, who were eminent 
London merchants, but, under the circumstances, it can hardly 
have afforded them much pleasure or profit. In the following 
reign we find that John de Orsterlee held two carucates of land in 
Isleworth and Heston, but whether he gave his name to the 
manor or derived it therefrom is not very clear. 

Here, also, stood a fort, or watch-tower, to protect convoys 
of provisions on the royal road from Windsor to London — a very 
necessary precaution if the "lawless men and fugitive villeins" 



123 



124 ©stcrle^ Iparl^ 

still infested the district. It is uncertain whether an existing 
print of "the Castle of Osterley " represents this fortress; no 
traces of such a Norman stronghold as is shown in the engraving 
now remain, but tradition points to the tower of the stables near- 
est the house as a remnant of the old castle. 

In the fifteenth century the manor of Osterley passed through 
several hands, and, early in the sixteenth, Hugh Denys bequeathed 
it by will to the Prior and Convent of Sheen, from whom it was 
conveyed some years later to the Abbess and Convent of the 
same place. On the suppression of monasteries Osterley was in 
succession granted to, and forfeited by, the Marquis of Exeter 
and the Duke of Somerset. Ultimately the eminent merchant 
prince, Sir Thomas Gresham, having received from Queen Eliza- 
beth a grant of the adjoining manor of Heston, purchased the 
manor of Osterley, and proceeded to build for himself, on the site 
of an ancient " ferme-house," an agreeable villa to which he 
might withdraw as often as he could spare a day or two from 
public or private business. It is recorded that "the edifice, 
which was built of brick, large, convenient, and thoroughly fin- 
ished, stood in the midst of a pleasant park, marked out and im- 
paled at his expence, well-wooded and furnished with several 
curious fishponds, and for grandeur there was near the house a 
heronry, with various contrivances to lure the birds thither, and 
to keep them fixed to their habitation when they were there." ^ 

Osterley was thus united with the manor of Heston, in 
which parish it is still included. The corn raised on this land has 
been renowned since the days of the Tudors and Stuarts, who 
were hence supplied with the fiour from which " King's Bread " 
was made. Queen Elizabeth had "the most part of her provision 
from this place, for manchet for Her Highness' own diet, as is 
reported."^ 

' Norden ; and Biographia Britaniiica. ^ Camden and Norden. 




125 



126 ©stcrlei? park 

So Sir Thomas, who though on pleasure bent had still a 
frugal mind, set up a corn-mill, and, moreover, established a 
paper- and an oil-mill on the adjacent stream ; as the last two 
were new manufactures, he probably desired to keep them under 
his own eye. 

The worthy merchant was not, however, destined to remain 
undisturbed in his place of retirement. He had hardly purchased 
the manor, and must have been in the thick of his alterations and 
improvements, when his gracious mistress, Queen Elizabeth, 
showed her confidence in him in a most unwelcome manner. 
Her little cousin. Lady Mary Grey, youngest sister of Lady Jane 
Grey, had secretly married the gigantic sergeant-porter of the 
Water-Gate at Westminster Palace. Thomas Keyes was de- 
scribed by Cecil as " the biggest gentleman in this court," while 
Lady Mary was so small as to be almost a dwarf Nevertheless 
the unfortunate little lady stood, by Edward VI. 's will, in rever- 
sion to the Crown, and her imprudence drew upon her the in- 
evitable wrath which the marriage of a possible heiress excited in 
the mind of the maiden Queen. 

Keyes was thrown into the Fleet prison, and Lady Mary was 
confided as State prisoner to one guardian after another, till, in 
1569, she was finally transferred for safe keeping to the unwilling 
custody of Sir Thomas Gresham, who lodged her sometimes at 
Gresham House in the City, and sometimes at Osterley. Lady 
Mary, who was now about twenty-five years old, seems to have 
been of a melancholy turn of mind, which, considering her mis- 
fortunes, is not astonishing. She was a staunch Protestant, and 
apparently addicted to religious controversy, for among some 
two dozen books, all of a serious character, which she possessed, 
we find the titles : Mr. Knox, his Answer to the Adversary of 
God's Predestination ; The Ship of Assured Safety, by D. Cra- 
docke ; Mr. Cart-wright's First and Second Reply; The Second 



©Steele^ park 127 

Course of the Hunter of the Romish Fox ; Godly Mr. IVhitgift's 
Answer; Mr. Dea rings Reply ; Dr. Fulke's Answer to the Popish 
Demands ; and Dr. Fulke's Answer to Allen touching Purgatory. 
If this style of literature represents the bent of the little lady's 
disposition, she was probably not a cheerful inmate of the good 
knight's household ; at all events, he strongly objected to her 
presence, while Lady Gresham never described her in milder 
terms than as the "heart-sorrow of her life." 

In one letter to Cecil the reluctant gaoler pleads that, as "it 
had pleased God to visit one in his house at Osterley with the 
plague," he and his wife want to ride with all their servants to 
his place in Sussex, "most humbly beseeching the Queen's 
Majesty's pleasure as to what I shall do with my Lady Mary 
Grey, trusting that now Her Majesty will be so good to me as to 
remove her from me, considering that she hath now been with 
me sixteen months." 

Nevertheless, the Greshams had to put up with their unlucky 
captive for three years, when, upon the death of her equally 
unlucky husband, she was released from her State imprisonment.^ 

Some five years later Sir Thomas had the privilege of wel- 
coming his royal mistress at Osterley, now complete in what 
the chronicler calls " a kind of mercantile magnificence." Feasts, 
dances, and masques were arranged for her amusement, amongst 
others a dramatic entertainment by the poet Churchyard, entitled 
"The Devises of Warre and a play at Austerley, Her Highness 
being at Sir Thomas Gresham's." An oft-told tale recounts that 
Her Highness, whilst admiring the mansion, found fault with the 
court in front as too large, "affirming that it would appear more 
handsome if divided in the middle." Sir Thomas, that perfect 
courtier, secretly sent for workmen, who silently and speedily 
erected a wall in the night, so that next morning the Queen was 

' iMiss Strickland's Tudor Princesses. 



128 ©stcrle^ IPark 

astonished to find that her suggestion had been already carried 
out. The courtiers indulged in various witticisms at the expense 
of their host. One recalled the erection of the Royal Exchange, 
observing that "it was no wonder that he could so soon change 
a tiiilding who could build a change " ; another, more unkindly, 
alluded to certain differences in the Gresham family, and remarked 
that " any house is more easily divided than united." 

The knight's neighbours were, unfortunately, far less amiably 
disposed than himself; for, according to the Middlesex County 
Records, true bills were at this time returned against Joan Eyer 
and Mary Harrys of Heston parish for breaking into Osterley 
Park, during the Queen's visit, and pulling up posts and pales, 
which during the night they " maliciously, diabolically, and 
wickedly burnt and consumed with fire, to the very great disquiet 
and disturbance of the said Lady the Queen, and of the magnates 
and honourable men, and the exalted men and servants of the 
same Queen." 

Another true bill, with respect to further breaches of the 
peace on the same occasion, is returned against Joan and Mary, 
with five other women named, and other disturbers unknown. 
This time they were instigated by "George Lenton, taylor, and 
"Nicholas Hewes, husbandman," who seem to have found it 
easiest to stir up a riot amongst the ladies of the district ; or 
possibly their male adherents could run away more speedily, 
and thus escaped justice. 

Sir Thomas left the place to Lady Gresham, and after her 
death it was inhabited in succession by Sir Edward Coke, then 
Attorney-general ; by George, Earl of Desmond ; and by Sir 
William Waller, the celebrated Parliamentary general, who repre- 
sented the County of Middlesex in Parliament, and died at 
Osterley, 1668. Seven years previously his daughter Anne was 
married in Osterley Chapel to Sir Philip Harcourt, Knight, 



©Steele^ parft 129 

ancestor of another distinguished Parliamentarian, Sir William 
Vernon Harcourt. 

Later on we find the estate in possession of Dr. Nicholas 
Barton, a projector and author; and in 171 1 it was sold by Dr. 
Arthur Charlette and his wife to Sir Francis Child, who had been 
M.P. for the City and Lord Mayor of London. His descendant, 
another Francis Child, employed the celebrated brothers Adam, 
about the middle of the eighteenth century, to rebuild the house ; 
but Francis died before the work was completed, and his brother 
and heir, Robert, superintended the interior fittings, and moved 
hither his collection of paintings and other works of art. 

The second Francis and Mr. Samuel Child kept a pack of 
foxhounds at Osterley. Will Deans was the huntsman till 1777, 
when they were given up, and he, with the pack, went to IjDrd 
FitzwlUiam at Milton. 

Though the ancient ground-plan of Sir Thomas Gresham's 
structure was for the most part preserved by Adam, and one of 
the corner turrets remains, having been newly cased, it is evident 
to the most casual observer that the Stables are the only part 
of the existing buildings which can be confidently assigned to 
Tudor days. 

Both Stables and house are built of red brick made from the 
clay found in the neighbourhood, which is of a peculiarly rich, 
bright colour ; but while the Stables recall some old Elizabethan 
manor, Mr. Child's house is an Italian villa built in classical 
style. In place of the Court, divided to please Queen Elizabeth, 
is a spacious Portico supported by Ionic columns bearing a Greek 
pediment ; and, both within and without, the structure is interest- 
ing to the student of domestic architecture as being one of the 
most complete specimens extant of the popular Adam style. 

Robert Adam built the house, and his brother is said to have 
planned the interior ornamentation and furniture, down to the 



130 



©stcvle^ IPail^ 



minutest details. In some cases the mouldings of the dado are 
repeated on the carved woodwork of the sofas and chairs ; in 
others, Italian, French, or Oriental tables and panels have been 
mounted according to the classical taste of the period. 

To the ceiling of the principal staircase, Mr. Child removed 
from his house in Leicester Square a painting by Rubens, repre- 
senting the apotheosis of the Prince of Orange ; and at either end 
of the Gallery — which runs the whole length of the house — 

he hung two large 
paintings : Charles 
1., by Van Dyck ; 
and George Villiers, 
first Duke of Buck- 
ingham, with at- 
tendant nymphs, by 
Rubens ; and Nep- 
tune and Amphitrite 
by Jordaens. The 
latter picture was 
painted by Rubens 
in Paris, and the 
following entry oc- 
curs in Sir Sackville 
Crowe's "Book of 





THE STABLES, OSTERLEY 



>^^i Accompts of the Re- 
^^ ceipts and Disburse- 
ments from the Privy 
Purse of the Duke of Buckingham," for the year 1625 ; "Given 
to Mr. Rubens for drawing his Lp'^ picture on horseback, /soo." 

Dr. Waagen writes in his Galleries and Cabinets of Art in 
Great Britain : 

"This picture is one of the most stately in the portrait line 




THE DINING-ROOM, OSTERLEY 



131 



132 ©stcrlep {park 

by the master I know. Indeed, the head of the Duke is so 
spirited and animated in conception, the colouring so powerful 
and clear, and the execution of such delicacy, that the great 
master's desire to produce his best for the patron who 'had 
purchased his collection of art, is very obvious." 

The Duke gave / 10,000 for Rubens's collection, and possessed 
many other valuable pictures. His son, the second Duke, had 
to fly the country after the Royalist reverses in Surrey, and was 
obliged to sell at Antwerp the pictures, which had been secured 
and sent to him by a trusty old servant. Doubtless his father's 
portrait remained in Belgium or Holland, and was there pur- 
chased by Sir Francis Child, who travelled in the Low Countries ; 
it is somewhat curious that the picture should in this manner 
have ultimately reverted to the Villiers family. 

In the Drawing-room is a full-length portrait, by Romney, 
of Mr. Child, representing him as a handsome man, with a gun, 
leaning against a tree ; and on either side are heads, by the same 
artist, of Robert Child and his beautiful wife, afterwards Lady 
Ducie. The Drawing-room opens into a Boudoir, hung with 
pink Gobelin tapestry, with medallions after Boucher ; it was 
executed by Neilson, whose name and the date 1775 are woven 
into one of the panels. Here are also a silver table and silver- 
mounted candelabra, said to have belonged to Queen Elizabeth ; 
these were given by the second Duke of Buckingham to the 
Countess of Shrewsbury, and were subsequently purchased at 
the Stowe sale. 

In the State Bedroom is an enormous bedstead with elaborate 
embroidery, and a dome crowned with artificial flowers. Mr. 
Child took especial pains to obtain the shade of green which 
predominates in the hangings, but when he saw the total cost 
of the bedstead and its furniture, he was so horrified that he 
destroyed the bill, and would never let anyone know its amount. 



®5tcrlc^ pavU 



OJ 



Beyond this bedroom is a room decorated by Angelica Kaufmann 
in the Pompeian style, which found so much favour in the 
eighteenth century. Angelica's husband, Zucchi, contributed two 
large panel paintings to the Dining-room, and the handiwork of 
both husband and wife may be observed in several other rooms. 

The Entrance Hall is somewhat original in design, being 
decorated and 
coloured to re- 
present a large 
piece of Wedge- 
wood china. 

Horace Wal- 
pole's description 
of the whole 
place, i n fl a t e d 
and exaggerated 
as it certainly is, 
gives an idea of 
the effect pro- 
duced on his con- 
temporaries. He 
writes thus to 
the Countess of 
Ossory : 

"On Friday 
we went to see 
— oh, the palace 
of palaces ! — and yet a palace sjiis crown, sjiis coronet, but such 
expense ! such taste ! such profusion ! and yet half an acre pro- 
duces all the rents thai furnish such magnificence, it is a Jaghire 
got without a crime. In short, a shop is the estate, and Osterley 
Park is the spot. The old house 1 have often seen, which was 




THE STATE BED 



134 ®5tcrle^ pari? 

built by Sir Thomas Gresham ; but it is so improved and en- 
riched, that all the Percies and Seymours of Sion must die of envy. 

"There is a double portico that fills the space between the 
towers of the front, and is as noble as the Propyleum of Athens. 
There is a hall, library, breakfast-room, eating-room, all chefs 
cVceirore of Adam, a gallery a hundred and thirty feet long, and a 
drawing-room worthy of Eve before the fall. Mrs. Child's dress- 
ing-room is full of pictures, gold filigree, china and Japan. So is 
all the house ; the chairs are taken from antieiue lyres, and make 
charming harmony ; there are Salvators, Caspar Poussins, and to 
a beautiful staircase, a ceiling by Rubens. 

" Not to mention a kitchen garden that costs /1400 a year, a 
menagerie full of birds come from a thousand islands, which Mr. 
Banks has not yet discovered ; and then, in the drawing-room I 
mentioned, there are door-cases and a crimson-and-gold frieze 
that 1 believe were borrowed from the Palace of the Sun ; and 
then the park is the ugliest spot of ground in the Universe-- and 
so 1 returned, comforted, to Strawberry. You shall see these 
wonders the first time you come to Twickenham." 

When the present owner desired to repair and renovate parts 
of his predecessor's work, it was satisfactory to find that the car- 
pets and ornamental metal-work had been produced by English 
firms still existing, whose representatives were able to continue 
and complete labours begun over a century previously. The 
Park, which Horace Walpole unkindly describes as " the ugliest 
spot of ground in the universe," was probably then very bare of 
trees, but subsequent plantations have done much to redeem it 
from reproach. The large cedars between the house and the 
Upper Lake are believed to have been planted at the time of the 
marriage of Mr. Child's granddaughter to Lord Villiers, presum- 
ably by the direct'on of her grandmother, then Lady Ducie, who 
had a life interest in the property. 




THE DRAWING-ROOM, OSTERLEY 



135 



136 ©Sterlet park 

One of the attractions of Osterley during the lifetime of Mr. 
Child and his widow was the menagerie, which contained many 
rare and valuable birds. The most remarkable of these were per- 
petuated in two volumes of coloured prints published by Thomas 
Hayes of Southall. 

Mr. Child had an only daughter Sarah, whose charms may 
still be admired in the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds at Middle- 
ton, and the still more beautiful portrait by Romney at Osterley. 
Near her, in the latter place, hangs the picture of the handsome 
and fascinating Lord Westmorland, who went by the name of 
" Rapid Westmorland," and whose good looks won the heart of 
the beautiful Miss Child, though her father desired that she 
should marry a commoner who should take his name and carry 
on the business. 

Lord Westmorland must have suspected what answer he 
was likely to receive should he lay his proposals before Mr. 
Child, for the story goes that when he was dining with the 
banker at his house in Berkeley Square, he exclaimed : 

"Child, if you were in love with a girl, and the father would 
not let you marry her, what would you do ? " 

"Do? Why, run away with her, of course ! " was the rash 
reply. 

Lord Westmorland made no further comment to the father, 
but quietly arranged matters with the young lady. Shortly after- 
wards, in May, 1782, she walked deliberately out of the Berkeley 
Square house carrying a small parcel ; a little schoolroom maid 
who was in her confidence had a hackney-cab in waiting round 
the corner, which conveyed Miss Child to meet her lover. He 
was in readiness with the orthodox post-chaise ; she mounted 
without demur, and away they drove, bound for Gretna Green. 

A hue and cry arose ere long, and Mr. Child, having ordered 
out a second post-chaise in which to pursue the fugitives, sent on 



©sterle^ pari? 137 

in advance a messenger, one Richard Gillam, mounted on his own 
favourite hunter, with orders to detain them till he should arrive. 

Richard, who doubtless changed horses several times (unless 
the hunter equalled Black Bess in powers of endurance), came up 
with the carriage near Rokeby, in Yorkshire, and delivered his 
master's message to its occupants. 

"Shoot, my lord," exclaimed Miss Child, who must have 
been a strong-minded young lady for her years — only seventeen. 
Lord Westmorland accordingly cut short further discussion by 
shooting Gillam's horse ; and when Mr. Child, who was now 
approaching the scene of action, saw the poor beast fall, he 
turned back and would carry the pursuit no further. 

Gillam ended his life at an advanced age as lodgekeeper at 
Middleton Park. He used to relate this adventure with great 
gusto, and from the tone of satisfaction with which "Shoot, my 
lord ! " was repeated to me by one of his hearers, 1 gather that 
the groom's admiration for his young mistress's spirit quite out- 
weighed any resentment for the discomfort which the execution 
of her orders might have entailed upon himself. 

The above is, 1 believe, a substantially correct account of the 
elopement ; other traditional versions assert that Lord Westmor- 
land shot one of the leaders of Mr. Child's post-chaise and for 
this offence was never forgiven, as his f:ither-in-lavv' thought that 
the shot was intended for him. However that may be, Mr. 
Child declared that no one bearing the name of Westmorland 
should be his heir ; yet, unwilling to disinherit his own descend- 
ants, he left all his property to the first daughter of Lady West- 
morland who should be christened Sarah and take the name of 
Child. Under this will Lady Sarah Sophia Child Fane became 
his heiress, and by her marriage with Lord Villiers, afterwards 
fifth Lord Jersey, brought Osterley into the family. 

Our ancestors were easily amused. The editor of an old 



138 



©sterlc^ pnv\\ 



collection of bons mots thought the following worthy of preserv- 
ation : When Miss C. returned from her expedition to Gretna 
Green with Lord W., Mrs. C. said to her, " My dear, why were 
you so hasty, when 1 had much better parties in view for you ? " 
" Mamma," replied the young lady, "a bird in the hand is worth 
two in the bush." If the repartee has no other merit, it tends 

to show that 
Lady Westmor- 
land was not 
m u c h ashamed 
of her escapade, 
and did not find 
her parents alto- 
gether unrelent- 
ing. 

While Oster- 
ley Park was in 
possession of 
Sarah Lady Jer- 
sey it was the 
scene of a duel, 
in which the late 
Sir Robert Peel 
acted as second. 
A racing quarrel 
had arisen be- 
tween Captain 
Hon. G. Vaughan 
and Sir William, then Mr. Gregory. A meeting was arranged ; 
Captain Vaughan missed, and his opponent fired in the air. Sir 
Robert (who was Mr. Gregory's second) and his colleague de- 
clared a second shot to be unnecessary, and as Sir William 




OSTERLEY, FROM THE SHRUBBERY 




139 



I40 ©Sterlet IParh 

confesses in his Memoirs, the combatants went on their way 
rejoicing. 

If it was any satisfaction to them, they had at all events 
afforded much amusement to Lady Jersey's grandchildren,- who 
were staying at Osterley, and were highly delighted at having 
seen gentlemen shooting at each other in the Park. Lady Jersey 
was not equally pleased, as she by no means approved such 
desecration of the peaceful shades of Osterley. 

Peaceful they certainly are. The Park is but nine miles from 
Hyde Park Corner, and the District Railway has planted a station 
just outside its walls, but when one steps across the road and 
passes through the lodge doors the roar and traffic of the City 
might be a hundred miles away. The tall elms fling their 
shadows across the paths, the cattle graze tranquilly in the long 
grass, the water-fowl splash and dive in the lakes, just as they 
may have done when Sir Thomas Gresham disturbed them with 
his oil- and-paper mills. 

Over all hangs the blue transparent haze known to artists 
as peculiar to the valley of the Thames, which enriches and 
softens the luxuriant vegetation of the surrounding country. 
The red towers of the house with their white angles, and the 
stone balustrades of the roof, appear above the dark, spreading 
cedars. Up the old walls climb fragrant magnolia and smooth 
ampelopsis, and along one whole side of the house runs a 
marvellous wistaria, which tries with soft green tendrils and 
purple tassels to clamber into the windows and peep at the 
tapestries within. Farther away flourish golden yew and 
many another variegated shrub, while the passing weeks of 
spring and summer are marked with the glowing masses of 
rhododendron, the pure white and rich odour of the giant 
syringa, and the blossoming of pinks and roses, amongst which 
the scarlet of the Crimson Rambler holds an honoured place. 



©sterlei? Ipark 141 

As Sunday evening draws in, the peals of distant church 
bells are the only sounds which come to break the quiet of a 
home so near the town and yet, seemingly, so secluded from the 
world ; then these cease, and the song of the nightingales alone 
disturbs the slumbers of Osterley Park. 



CJ 



Clumber 



143 




BY THE DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 



CLUMBER is difficult to describe, as it has practically no 
history, and was built only in the middle of the eight- 
eenth century. The antiquarian will not find much 
to help him in his researches on Clumber, for the notices which 
have appeared are meagre in the extreme. Thornton in his 
Antiquities of Nottingham mentions it twice ; he says, "A Hamlet 
of Mansfield, certain lands in it belonging to William the Con- 
queror," and, "In 1310, one William Fitzwilliam held a sixth 
part of a fee under Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln." These, and 

a reference to tithes paid to the Vicar of Worksop, and a grant 

145 



146 Clumber 

of land, value eleven shillings per annum, made by Henry VIll. 
to Roger and Robert Tavener, are the only historical records 
1 can find. 

The present house stands on a site formerly occupie'd by a 
shooting lodge belonging to the Dukes of Newcastle ; they them- 
selves, until 171 1, resided at Welbeck. 

Perhaps it would be as well to show how Clumber came 
into this branch of the family. 

In 1709, John Mollis, fourth Earl of Clare, and great grandson 
of William Cavendish, the Duke of Newcastle of the Civil War, 
now perhaps better known as the author of the famous book 
on horsemanship, received permission to enclose three thousand 
acres of Sherwood Forest, of which he was then Steward, to 
make a private park. He did this, and, dying two years later, 
left it to his sister's son, Thomas Pelham, second Baron Pelham 
of Laughton in Sussex ; who was created Marquis of Clare and 
Duke of Newcastle in the county of Northumberland, and, in 
1756, Duke of Newcastle under Lyme, with special remainder to 
the heirs of his brother, Henry Pelham, and his sister Lucy, who 
had married Henry, seventh Earl of Lincoln. Thomas, Duke of 
Newcastle, died in 1768, and was succeeded by his nephew 
Henry, ninth Earl of Lincoln, he having married his first cousin, 
Catherine, daughter and heiress of Henry Pelham. He assumed 
also, by royal licence, the surname of Pelham ; and, dying in 
1794, was succeeded by his third son, Thomas ; his eldest having 
died young; while the second, Henry Fiennes, who in 177s 
married the lovely Lady Frances Seymour Conway, had died in 
1778, leaving an only daughter, who afterwards married William, 
Lord Folkestone. Thomas, the third Duke, married in 1782 Anna 
Maria, the youngest daughter of William, second Earl of Harring- 
ton. Only two of their children lived — a son and a daughter; 
the latter married Lord Combermere. Henry, the son, succeeded 




CLUMBER, THE SOUTH FRONT 



147 



148 



Clumber 



his father in 1795. I have discovered a most interesting diary of 
his, carefully kept, from the death of his wife (to whom he was 
greatly devoted), in 1822, until his own in 1851. 

Amongst other things in it of great interest relating to the 

politics of the day 
(for he was a most 
keen politician, 
absolutely up- 
right and hon- 
ourable, though 
perhaps, for h i s 
own sake, too out- 
spoken), 1 found 
an old letter of 
Mr. Gladstone's 
—to whom 1 can- 
not say, as it has 
no beginning, but 
presumably to 
someone who 
had been asking 
pertinent ques- 
tions as to why the 
Duke of Newcas- 
tle should have offered him the seat of Newark. 1 will give it in 
full : 

" I. Our acquaintance began at Eton, but was very slight. 
"2. It grew at Oxford mainly, or firstly, 1 think, in conse- 
quence of Lord Lincoln having attached himself to a small Society 
which took for its name my initials, and which was formed for 
literary and mental effort by the composition of essays, and 
discussion upon them. 




LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU 

BY RICHARDSON 




149 



I50 Clumber 

" }. It is true that I shewed the alarm generally felt at the 
Reform Bill and attended the Union, which I did not habitually 
attend, to make a speech against it. Beyond this 1 know only 
little ; 1 cannot affirm, still less can I deny, the statement made 
by Sir F. Doyle. I have always taken it for granted that some 
statements from Lord Lincoln must have moved his father the 
Duke, to whom 1 was unknown, to write to my father and offer 
to recommend me to his friends at Newark. All 1 know is that 
early in July of 1832, having just reached an Hotel in Milan, I 
received to my unbounded astonishment a letter from my father 
conveying this offer and favouring its acceptance which followed. 
1 reached London at the end of the month, joined my family at 
Torquay, and in September was summoned to begin the canvass 
at Newark, which 1 always considered as the opening of my 
political life." 

The only mention of Mr. Gladstone by the Duke at the date 
of the election is this : 

" August 6, 1832. Mr. Gladstone, who is to come in on my 
interest at Newark, has just published his address — he is a 
friend of Lincoln's, and a very talented and highly principled 
young man, as he tells me, for 1 do not know him." 

Mention of the Reform Bill brings back to one's mind the 
fearful Nottingham Riots, all directed against this Duke of New- 
castle in consequence of his bitter opposition to the Bill ; I will 
copy the account of them, also the preparations for the defence 
of Clumber, from his diary : 

" I ith October. This day has passed off quietly — the peo- 
ple are standing about, and I have seen more drunkenness than 1 
have seen for a long time. In the House of Lords we had some 
talking, and as the conversation turned to it, I thought it might 
be attended with public good if I alluded to the attack on my 
house [in Cavendish Square the day before] and the state of 






RUBENS'S WIFE 

AFTER THE PICTURE By RUBENS 



151 



152 Clumber 

town and country. Lord Melbourne answered me with great 
propriety, and afterwards told me that he had had very bad news 
from Notts, that Nottingham was in a shocking state, and that 
the Rioters had set fire to the Castle — and it was thought' had 
also attacked the jail, but his information only came from the 
guard of the mail coach. The mob have attacked the jails and 
liberated the prisoners in Derby, besides attacking several houses. 
They have vowed the destruction of Belvoir. I hope Clumber is 
also not in their black books. 

" 1 2th October. Having received authentic information of the 
destruction by fire of Nottingham Castle by the mob, of the 
sacking of Colwick, which they stripped of everything and after- 
wards set hre to, 1 am determined to go to Clumber this evening. 
I went to the Duke of Wellington and had a long consultation 
with him how 1 should proceed. The cry of the mob was that 
they would proceed to Clumber, and many think they will go — 
but the Duke thinks, and justly, that they will never get so far. 
I returned home about i o'clock, having finished all my business. 
The assemblage of persons in the streets was enormous. The 
people everywhere wore the appearance of insolence and self- 
importance, as though their hour of rule had at length arrived. 
Lord Londonderry on going to the House was very seriously 
injured by the mob, and the Duke of Wellington's windows were 
broken in the daytime in a very orderly manner, by a well organ- 
ized mob. The day was wet, and towards evening it rained in 
torrents, for which we have to thank God for the prevention of 
much mischief which must otherwise have happened. As 1 was 
writing my letters this evening and settling all my affairs, a letter 
arrived by coach from Georgiana [his daughter] telling me that 
they were all in Mansell's [the Keeper's] house, whither they had 
been sent for safety, in the apprehension of an immediate attack 
upon Clumber, of which such repeated information had been 




THE BRIDGE AT CLUMBER 



153 



154 Clumber 

received that Lincoln thought it necessary, and was advised, to 
take every precautio;i and make every preparation for defence. I 
retired, as 1 cannot get away this evening as it rains in torrents, 
to lie down in my clothes, and start at 4 in the morning. 

" nth October. Started at 4, everything being ready; at 
Wandsford 1 received a letter from Mr. Tallents [his Agent] ad- 
vising me to be cautious in going through Newark and recom- 
mending me to change horses out of the town. 1 however 
changed at the Inn and nothing happened. On the road 1 heard 
that there had been disturbances at Mansfield and an attempt to 
get into Wollaton by the Nottinghamers ; a fire the night before, 
at Plumtree, and another in Rutlandshire. 1 stopped at Mansell's, 
where 1 arrived at 9 o'clock and found my dear daughters per- 
fectly well and as happy as possible under the circumstances. 
Miss Spencer, the Swiss governess, and their maids were with 
them, so that they must have been very closely packed. I stayed 
about an hour and then went to Clumber, notwithstanding the 
wishes of Mansell that 1 should stay, as he thought it very likely 
that 1 should be shot at as 1 went through the woods, where sev- 
eral men had been seen for some days lurking about. 1 reached 
Clumber at about 1 1 o'clock, having met videttes of Yeomanry 
patroling within two miles of the house ; on my arrival the 
garrison expressed their rejoicing and welcome by loud and 
continued cheers. In the house 1 found my dear Lincoln, Charles, 
and Thomas ; I could not believe I was at Clumber, the whole 
was so changed, everything removed that was valuable, such 
as pictures, ornaments, furniture, statues, etc., nothing left but 
bare walls, and the house filled with men in every room, with 
cannons, of which 1 have 10 v-pounders and 14 little ship guns, 
fire arms, muskets, and pistols and sabres planted in their proper 
positions, and in all the windows. The scene is beyond my 
description ; the confusion and joy occasioned by my arrival 




155 



1 56 Clumbei* 

might have formed several glowing pages for the pen of an 
experienced novelist. Before 1 v/ent to bed 1 visited all the 
arrangements made in the different rooms. The preparations are 
indeed formidable — sufficient to repel 20,000 men. In the house 
are 200 men, and out of it a great many more, including a Troop 
of Yeomanry, 70 men and horses. It was late when 1 retired, 
and it was not long before 1 fell into a deep sleep. 

" 14th October. I would not give any orders, not wishing 
without full deliberation to alter anything that Lincoln had done 
— but this morning I determined to make a chnnge in our mode 
of defence. I therefore settled that the Yeomanry should be 
dismissed, all but a sergeant and 12 men, whom I kept until 
the next morning — 1 reduced the number of men to 20 picked 
men who had nearly all been old soldiers. I admit none of them 
into the house, but have made a barrack for them in the offices 
adjoining, where they sleep and mess, and 1 mount a chain of 
sentries in a ring round the house extending to the gate near the 
tool-house in the Pleasure Ground. In this manner we shall 
command regularity, and something like system and efficiency. 
1 think we shall be perfectly secure against attack in this manner. 
Towards evening 1 had m.ade some progress in putting the house 
to rights and making it more as usual, for 1 found it scarcely 
habitable, and my own room full of people with guns mounted 
and full of litter and dirt. At night I went to see that all my 
arrangements were carried properly into execution and found 
them well done ; on my return home, from not knowing the 
countersign, 1 was taken prisoner by one of my own sentries. 
I have heard of no fresh aggressions. 

"isth October. My report of this morning was that two 
men had been taken last night, who pretended to be gentlemen, 
and who said it would be very disagreeable to be taken before 
one who would know them, and offered 20 sovereigns to my 




THE LINCOLN TERRACE, CLUMBER 



157 



158 Clumber 

people to let them go ; they refused their money, but told them 
as they saw they were gentlemen they would liberate them. 
Nothing could have been more unfortunate; there can be no 
doubt that they were incendiaries, and that they were the very 
people we had been looking for, and who had been frequently 
seen in various parts evidently bent upon mischief. I hear to-day 
that disturbance is expected at Mansfield, and that a Troop of 
Hussars, which had been ordered to Worksop, had been counter- 
ordered to Mansfield. Nottingham is in a feverish state but quiet 
for the present. 

" 1 6th October. I have had a great many people here to-day 
who all report that things are quiet for the present. One report 
arrived that there was a rising in Sheffield and that Lord Wharn- 
cliffe's house had been burnt down. This night a man came 
and sent me in a letter saying that he came from Nottingham 
and wished to tell me the little he knew about the late riots in 
Nottingham ; and I had a long conversation with him and found 
him to be a very shrewd fellow — but he told me nothing that 
1 did not know, and 1 dismissed him, ordering him some supper 
and 5/ -for his night's lodgings as he had come so far. I thought 
the man might be come for no good purpose, and 1 thought it fair 
to deceive him and ordered that the guard should be trebled, on 
the road he was going, to make him report the number of guards 
he met with, and how difficult it was to get in and out. My serv- 
ants carried this trick further and disguised themselves and lay in 
his way and got into conversation with him, when they found 
that he was a cheat and abused me dreadfully, and that he came 
here as a spy. They managed to take him. I shall send him 
by a Constable to Worksop for examination before a Magistrate. 

" 17th October. 1 went to Blyth to-day to confer with the 
General of the district. Sir H. Bouverie. 1 have heard of nothing 
but tranquility to-day, nothing has happened here. 




159 



ibo Clumber 

" i8th October. The accounts from all sides is that all is 
quiet." 

This ends the account of the fortifying of Clumber against 
the Nottingham roughs, who fortunately never turned up ;- and 
1 think I should now return to the description of Clumber. 1 
cannot do better than to quote Throsby, in his additions to 
Thornton's History of Nottinghamshire, in his description of the 
Park as it appeared to him one May day : 

"The Duke of Newcastle's dwelling in this place is truly 
magnificent, although the building is neither lofty nor very 
extensive. From the new bridge which spans an apparent end- 
less stream which waters Clumber, there appears a harmonious 
whole of grandeur ; the proud chested Swans, which sail gently 
in numbers to and fro in the space between the bridge and the 
house, happily corresponding in complexion with everything of 
art in view ; blended with the various natural tints of foliage 
which surround you (if 1 may be allowed the expression) 
paradises the mind. . . . 

"Within the Park the country opens out with splendour, 
rich in effect and delightful to the eye. The fir and woody 
scenery around were warmed with patches of broom and gourse, 
then in golden hue, left, it may be presumed, for ornament. The 
Hills, or rather rising grounds, are beautifully clothed with woody 
scenery, the lawns are as smooth on the surface as a calm water 
scene." 

Although written over a century ago, this describes the 
Clumber of to-day very well, only the "endless stream" has 
become a lake three miles long ; Italian terraces have been made 
from the house to the water-side, a large marble fountain stand- 
ing half way ; and, in summer, the bright flowers, with the 
water splashing and playing in the fountains, added to the 
reflections of the trees and rhododendrons on the other side, 




THE YELLOW DRAWINQ-ROOM, CLUMBER 



i6i 



1 62 Clumber 

makes it a truly beautiful scene, and worthy of Throsby's 
enthusiastic description. 

In 187Q, Clumber was the scene of a terrible fire ; the entire 
centre of the house was completely gutted ; many valuable -pict- 
ures, pieces of china, and furniture being destroyed. As many 
as seventy pictures were burnt, including a very fine Albrecht 
Diirer and a Romney of Lady Middleton. Amongst the china 
was a very beautiful pale blue Sevres service given by the King 
of "Naples to a Duke of Newcastle ; but it is useless to go on with 
this sad list, and one consolation should be, that had it not been 
for the pluck and devotion of the housekeeper (Mrs. Conden) a 
great deal more would have been lost. The fire caused a great 
change with regard to the centre of the house ; many small rooms, 
some eighteen in number, were entirely knocked in, and a large 
Hall has replaced them, to the great improvement of the house. 
The four wings remain as they were, and in them are all the 
principal reception rooms. 

Perhaps the curious stranger would in his mind's eye like to 
go through them. We will start with the State Drawing-room 
which is on our right as we come in at the west front. It is en- 
tirely decorated in cream, gold, and pale blue ; the gilt carvings 
over the windows formerly decorated the Doge's palace in Venice, 
and are very fine. The pictures include that exquisite Van Dyck, 
" Rinaldo and Armida," which drew forth such universal admira- 
tion in the recent Van Dyck Exhibition at Burlington House ;. 
a very fine "Crowning of the Virgin," by Caracci ; and two 
magnificent full-length portraits by Lawrence of the fourth Duke 
and his wife. The china is a very remarkable collection, three 
unique Chelsea Vases being included, two of them alone being 
valued at ;/^2o,ooo. The Sevres, Dresden, Worcester, and Crown 
Derby examples are also worthy of being mentioned with these. 

Beyond, we come to the Yellow Drawing-room. In it is 




I ^ 






. .. r ■ill', y^ 




-^ 



BEGGAR BOYS" 

AFTER THE PICTURE BY GAINSBOROUGH 



163 



164 



ClumDer 



what is considered to be one of the finest marble chimneypieces 
in the country ; it was bought at Beckford's sale at Fonthill : 
the chiselling is really exquisite, and the figures are relieved by a 
tinted background. The pictures in this room are noteworthy. 




WILLIAM CAVENDISH, FIRST DUKE OF NEWCASTLE 

BY DOBSON 

Among them are Gainsborough's " Beggar Boys" ; the " Portrait 
of an Orator" by Rembrandt; " Sigismunda Mourning over the 
Heart of her Murdered Lover," by Correggio. The story goes that 
Hogarth, seeing this picture, backed himself to paint a better of 
the same subject ; 1 understand that his critics considered that he 
failed to do so. The other pictures include a Guido, Poussin, 
Vander Meulen, Rubens, and several Canalettos. Out of this is the 




i65 



i66 dlumber 

small Dining-room. Here also the pictures are very good, par- 
ticularly the large Van Dyck — painted presumably for an Altar 
piece — of "The Descent from the Cross"; three Claude Lor- 
raines ; "The Battle of the Boyne," by Vander Meulen'; a 
Rubens, two Poussins, Feaiers, and Canalettos. 

Farther on we come to the Library, undoubtedly the finest 
room in the house, decorated entirely in old Spanish mahogany 
in the Empire style. The furniture includes two splendid escri- 
toires, which tradition says were formerly the property of Louis 
XIV. ; but surely, before talking of furniture, in a library we 
should turn to the books. The bibliophile would delight in 
several Caxtons, a first folio of Shakespeare, a first edition of 
Dante, and a Book of Hours richly illuminated — in fact there is 
not supposed to be a better example in the Bodleian. This ends 
the rooms on the south side. On the east are two small libraries, 
the Duke's photographic rooms (where you will find every latest 
appliance in the camera world), and the Study, entirely fitted up 
in old oak. The pictures include one by Heere of Queen Mary, — 
curiously enough much injured by tire (for if history speaks true, 
she herself was much given to using this form of punishment on 
those who dared to differ with her in their religious belief, — two 
Sir Joshuas, two Hogarths — portraits of himself and wife — two 
Rigauds of Louis XV. and his Queen, and a Quentin Matsys, 
which represents the artist painting the portrait of a lady. 

Opening out from the Study is the Red Drawing-room, hung 
entirely with family portraits. The two most important are 
" Lady Lincoln with the Harp," and that of her husband in a pink 
fancy dress of the time of Charles I. There is, I believe, some 
doubt expressed as to these two pictures being by Gainsborough ; 
but 1 have lately discovered an old catalogue printed in 1800 with 
his name given as the artist, and I think a catalogue printed so 
near the date of the painting is bound to be correct ; at any rate, 




i67 



1 68 



Clumber 



whoever the artist, they are beautiful examples of his art. The 
other pictures include a Dobson of William Cavendish, first Duke 

of Newcastle, 
the Prime Minis- 
ter Duke, and 
his brother, 
Henry Pelham, 
the Chancellor, 
by Hoare. 

The Billiard- 
room is also on 
this side of the 
house; it was 
built after the fire, 
and contains a 
very fine Snyder 
of a panther kill- 
ing a wild boar, 
a very fine Van 
Dyck of Sir Will- 
iam Ki II igre w, 
two other Van 
Dycks, several 
Lelys, a Van Os, 
S a 1 V a 1 r Rosa, 
Richardson, and 
a Holbein of 
''Geraldine, the fair Maid of Surrey," and first Countess of 
Lincoln. On the other side are the Offices and State Dining- 
room. Here are Snyder's four famous " Market Pieces"; one of 
these was seriously injured in the fire, half of it being entirely de- 
stroyed. Beside these are two very fine Zuccarellis and a Weenix. 




NAPOLEON 

BY CANOVA 




169 



1 70 Clumber 

We are now back again in the Hall, the principal pictures in 
which are a landscape by Gainsborough, "The Return from 
Shooting," by Wheatley, " Southwark Fair," by Hogarth, and a 
Vander Neer. In the Gallery upstairs are a Battista Franco, a 
Holbein, several Rubens, a Ruysdael, a Lawrence, besides many 
more. There are also some rather fine antiques purchased by the 
fourth Duke at Nollekin's sale, including four white marble Cists, 
dating from the first century ; nor must we forget Canova's 
colossal statue of Napoleon. 

Having exhausted the house we will go on to the Chapel, 
which stands about three hundred yards away on the east of the 
Pleasure Grounds, and was built by the present Duke and opened 
in 1889. The style is fourteenth century gothic, and it has a 
warm and old appearance, being constructed in red sand-stone. 
On entering, the effect is that of a genuine fourteenth century 
Chapel untouched by the devastating hand of the so-called 
Reformation. The altar is of beautiful white alabaster, standing 
out from the green silken hangings, which are some day to be 
replaced by something more solid. The carvings all over the 
Chapel are very fme, particularly in the Lady Chapel, where the 
side altar, like the rest of the Church, is carved in red sand-stone, 
the subject of the Reredos being "The Annunciation." From the 
roof gleams the Magnificat in letters of gold, and the sun shines 
in with softened rays through the beautiful windows designed 
and executed by Kemp. 

The Lincoln Terrace, about a quarter of a mile from the Ital- 
ian Garden, is also worth a visit, with its fme old stately seats, 
and steps down to the water. It was made early in the last 
century with stone brought from Italy at the cost of ^10,000. 

The trees that flourish best at Clumber are cedars — there are 
many fme ones near the house ; Scotch firs, birches, and limes 
also do well ; in fact an avenue of the latter, two and a half miles 



Clumber 



171 



long, and ending with Apleyhead Lodge, is one of the features 
of the Park. In the middle of the avenue (at Hardwick) are the 
Kennels and the Farm ; and those interested in animals will find 
plenty there to admire in things canine. Some six brace of the 
old breed of Clumber spaniels, introduced from the north of Spain 
by a former Duke, at the end of the eighteenth century, still dis- 
port themselves. 
They are very 
difficult animals 
to breed, 1 pre- 
sume from hav- 
ing for many 
years been much 
inbred. Dogs 
have always been 
favourites at 
Clumber, but 
never more so 
than they are at 
present, for I sup- 
pose I may confess that they and horses are my mania. 1 have 
some fifty Borzois or Russian wolf hounds ; many of them well 
known on the show bench, for they have, since 1892, won over 
five hundred prizes at all the principal shows in England. Beauti- 
ful dogs they are, and most affectionate, intelligent companions. 
Fox terriers, too, are here, and they also have won their laurels ; 
very proud 1 am that the highest honours have been won by many 
of Clumber breeding, for it is more difficult to win with fox 
terriers, than with any other breed. Added to the Borzois, fox 
terriers, and Clumber spaniels, 1 must also mention the pack of 
harriers, eighteen couples in all, of twenty-one inch hounds of 
the foxhound type. And very good sport we have with them, 




APLEYHEAD LODGE, CLUMBER 



172 Clumber 

too, during the winter. They are a very good-looking pack, as 
may be inferred when 1 add that they have won on several occa- 
sions at the Peterborough Hound Show, including the cup for 
the best "three couples." 

And now I should like to add that 1 have practically rewrit- 
ten this article since its previous appearance in the Pall Mall 
Maga:(ine. 

Before the paper was sent to the Maga^^iue some additional 
matter was interpolated without my knowledge or sanction, and 
without the knowledge or sanction of the Editor. To this addi- 
tional matter (on seeing it in print and being in no way answer- 
able for it) 1 much regret that my signature should have been 
appended. 

(Signed) K. Newcastle. 



Huble? Enb 



173 




THE WESTERN FRONT OF AUDLEY END 



AUDLEY END 



BY ELIZABETH J. SAVILE 



A FINE view of the west front of Audley End is obtained 
from the high road, so that in the old coaching days 
it was a familiar object to travellers from London to 
Cambridge. No glimpse of it, however, is visible from the Great 
Eastern line, which here runs through a tunnel. A broad sweep 
of lawn stretches between the house and the river, the greater 
part of which was once covered by the large quadrangle and 
other buildings pulled down more than one hundred and seventy 
years ago. 

A curious and interesting print, which gives a representation 
of the whole extent of the original buildings, shows how splendid 
was the stately pile described as the " royall pallace of Audley 
End." Thoresby mentions posting from Cambridge to London 



1/6 auMe^ £n^ 

by the "greatest house in England, Audley End, a vast building 
or rather town walled in ; it is adorned with so many cupolas 
above, walks and trees below, as rendered it a most admirable 
seat." The print shows also that the present west front then 
formed the inner side of the great quadrangle. 

Like Burghley, Audley End is built of stone, while many 
other houses of about the same date, including Hatfield and 
Temple Newsam, are of red brick. Audley End has two entrance 
lodges, one on the main road, about a quarter of a mile from the 
house, the other on tire road which branches off at right angles 
to Saffron Walden. Both the lodges are modern ; but the centre 
gateway of this last, sometimes called the "Lion" lodge, dates 
from 1616, and bears the Howard lion at the top. It was restored 
in 1786. 

The building of the house is supposed to have been begun 
in 1603, and to have taken thirteen years in completion. The 
first Earl of Suffolk, who built it, seems to have wished to "erect 
a mansion which should surpass in size and magnificence all the 
private residences of the kingdom, and in aid of this design he 
procured from Italy a model executed in wood." There is some 
"uncertainty about the name of the architect, but it seems most 
probable that John Thorpe was employed. In a volume of draw- 
ings and plans made by John Thorpe himself is a ground-plan 
of Audley End with pencilled alterations, which circumstance 
strongly confirms this idea. 

Thomas Howard, first Earl of Suffolk, Lord Treasurer to 
James I., had inherited the estates of Audley End from his 
mother, Margaret Audley, daughter and eventually sole heir of 
Lord Chancellor Audley, to whom Henry Vlll. had given the 
lands of the manor and Abbey of Walden. 

The buildings must have been considerably advanced by 
16 10, in which year the King visited Lord Suffolk, and again in 



HuMe^ lenD 



177 



1614. It was probably on one of these occasions that King James 
made the often quoted remark that " the house was too large for 
a King, though it might do for a Lord Treasurer " ! The size 
of the house soon proved a source of considerable embarrassment 
to its owners, none of whom, after the death of the first Earl of 
Suffolk, were able to keep up an establishment suitable to its 
magnificence. 

in 1 72 1, three sides of the great quadrangle were demolished 
under the advice of Sir John Vanbrugh ; and in 1749 the whole 




THE ORIGINAL HOUSE AS BUILT BY THE EARL OF SUFFOLK 

FROM AN OLD PRINT 

of the eastern wing of the present quadrangle was pulled down 
by Elizabeth, Countess of Portsmouth, shortly after it came into 
her possession. At one time, indeed, Lady Portsmouth con- 
templated the destruction of the whole house, and then had an 
idea of converting it into a silk manufactory. But the manner 
in which she finally decided to reduce its size, and adapt it to 
the means of her nephew and successor. Lord Howard de 
Walden, resulted in entailing great expense on him. For much 
rebuilding became necessary to restore the communication 
between the north and south wings, while the loss of the 



178 



auMe^ Ien^ 



magnificent gallery, two hundred and twenty-six feet long, 
which was situated in the eastern wing, was irreparable. 

Evelyn describes the architecture of the house: "It is a 
mixt fabrick 'twixt antiq and modern, but observable for its 
being compleately finished, and it is one of the stateliest palaces 

in the kingdom." 
It is, in fact, a fine 
example of that in- 
termediate style be- 
tween Gothic and 
classical in which 
the great houses of 
England were built 
during the . reigns 




of Elizabeth and 
James 1., called 
Elizabethan by 
some, by others 
Jacobean. A fine 
cedar-tree, s o m e - 
what injured by the 
winds and storms 
of many years, 
stands close to the 
south-western angle of the house. The west front has two 
porches, exactly alike, two storied, with pillars and arches, the 
lower story Ionic, the upper Corinthian. The balustrades and 
architrave of these are elaborately and delicately carved. The en- 
trance is by the north porch, which leads into a lofty vestibule 
communicating by an archway on the right with the Great Hall. 
The Hall runs up to the roof: it is lighted by five windows, the 
central one a large projecting bow. It has a stone floor, and 



THE ENTRANCE PORCH 




179 



i8o Bublc^ JBn^ 

ceiling of plaster compartments separated by oaken beams, the 
compartments bearing crests and cognizances of the Howard 
family. The walls are panelled with oak half-way up to, the 
ceiling ; the chimneypiece is of fine carved oak with the arms of 
Charles, seventh Earl of Suffolk, and his wife Arabella, daughter 
and co-heir of Sir Samuel Astry, in the centre. Silken banners, 
bearing the arms of the different possessors of the Manor of 
Walden, beginning with Geoffrey de Mandeville, are suspended 
from the beams of the ceiling. But the chief glory of the Hall 
is the magnificent screen of carved oak, which occupies the 
whole of the north end. It is richly carved, and ornamented 
with grotesque figures in bold relief, and is said to have been 
originally procured from Italy. 

In 1740, Lord Suffolk,^ with inconceivable bad taste, had 
this beautiful screen covered with white paint, as well as the 
walls and chimneypiece. The paint, however, was successfully 
removed in 1826 by the application of soft soap. The work of 
restoring the screen to its pristine beauty required much care 
and patience, and was undertaken by an old servant of Richard,, 
third Lord Braybrooke. Some carved oak chimneypieces in 
different parts of the house have since then been freed in a 
similar manner from the disfigurement of white paint. 

Unfortunately, when the Hall was enlarged by the removal 
of the south wall, this was, under the directions of Sir John Van- 
brugh, replaced by an open stone screen, with a double flight 
of stone steps leading into the Saloon. This screen is totally 
unsuited to the original design, and out of keeping with the 
Hall. The ceiling over this staircase is quite different from 
that of the Hall, but the raised mouldings on it are of beautiful 
design. 

A piece of carving, cut out of a block of solid oak, which 

' Henry, tenth Earl, who died in 1745 



auMc^ Eiit) i8i 

stands in the Hall represents an ecclesiastical legend, and was 
bought at an auction of Dutch furniture in 1826. 

The narrow straight chair of carved oak called "Pope's 
Chair" belonged to the poet Alexander Pope, who, as is well 
known, was a very little man. He lived at one time at Binfield, 
in Berkshire, close to Lord Braybrooke's estate of Billingbear. 
The Rev. T. Ashley, for many years curate of Binfield, presented 
this chair to the third Lord Braybrooke in 1844. He bought it 
in a cottage, and was told by the woman who owned it, " My 
husband's mother lived many years with the late Mr. Pope, 
and this was master's chair given to her as a keepsake." Mr. 
Ashley thought that the chair was a present to the poet after he 
had translated the Iliad, and that the carving on the chair of 
Cupid and a flaming heart, with a town in the background, had 
reference to Helen of Troy. It was also suggested that the 
Phoenix at the top may have been placed there as an allusion 
to Troy being again raised from the flames by the poet's transla- 
tion of the Iliad. 

There are many portraits in the Hall, some of which deserve 
special notice. Those of Lord Chancellor Audley and his wife 
are attributed to Holbein. 

Thomas Audley received a grant of the manor of Walden, 
and the recently dissolved Abbey of Walden from Henry VIll., 
as a reward for his services in aiding and abetting the King in 
all his schemes for the dissolution and surrender of the religious 
houses. He did not belong to the ancient family of the Barons 
Audley, whose surname is Touchet, but came of a respectable 
family seated at Earl's Colne, in Essex, in the time of Henry VI. 
Thomas Audley inherited a competent fortune, possessed good 
natural abilities, and received an excellent education. But even 
with these advantages his rise to fame and fortune was unusually 
rapid. He was Speaker of the House of Commons and King's 



1 82 auMc^ lEnD 

Sergeant, knighted and appointed Keeper of the Great Seal on 
the resignation of Sir Thomas More, and on January 26, 1532, 
became Lord Chancellor. 

In 1538, Sir Thomas Audley was created Lord Audley of 
Walden, and installed a Knight of the Garter. His first wife, 
of whom nothing is known, was dead, and he married secondly 
Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Thomas, first Marquis of Dorset. 
Lady Audley's brother Henry, second Marquis, afterwards Duke 
of Suffolk, was beheaded in 1554 for proclaiming his daughter, 
Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England. 

It is amusing to hear that Lord Audley spoke of his alliance 
with this illustrious family as his "pore marriage." 

Lord Audley died at his house in Aldgate on April 30, 1554, 
leaving his sole surviving daughter Margaret heiress to his vast 
possessions. The use of the Walden estates was, however, 
allowed to Lady Audley^ for her life, and she was "to have and 
enjoy his chief and capital mansion house at Walden with the 
parke adjoining, and all houses and precincts thereof," also for 
her life. 

This house must have been the original Audley End, about 
which very little is known. But the present house stands on 
the site of the old Abbey, and therefore the statement that Lord 
Audley converted the Abbey into his country residence, though 
not absolutely certain, seems most probable. 

Margaret Audley was first married at the age of fourteen to 
Henry Dudley, fourth son of John, Earl and Duke of Northumber- 
land, who was killed at the battle of St. Ouentin in Picardy, in 
August, 1557, and left no child. Before the year was over the 
girl- widow .Margaret became the second wife of Thomas Howard, 
fourth Duke of Norfolk. The Duchess of Norfolk's portrait, in 
an elaborate dress and close ruff, by Lucas de Heere, hangs in 

' She married, secondly, Sir George Norton, Knight. 




i83 



i84 HuMe^ l£nD 

the Hall. It was originally painted on the same panel as that 
of her husband, but for some reason the portraits were divided, 
the coat-of-arms between the two being severed in the middle, 
the first two words of the motto. Sola virtus, being on the Duke's 
half, the third word, Iiivictj, on the other. The Duke's 
picture became the property of the Earls of Westmoreland, his 
sister Jane having married Charles Neville, Earl of Westmoreland ; 
while the Duchess of Norfolk's portrait, formerly at Drayton 
House, was presented by Lord George Germaine to Lord Howard 
de Walden. The portrait of Margaret Audley and her ill-fated 
husband, disunited for so many years, met once more within the 
walls of Burlington House during the winter exhibition of 1885. 
Since then Lord Westmoreland has sold the Duke of Norfolk's 
picture, which now belongs to the Rothschilds. 

Margaret Audley had by her second marriage four children : 
one died early ; William, her second son, was ancestor of the 
Earls of Carlisle, and is well known as " Belted Will Howard," 
who held the post of Lord Warden of the Marches, and was 
the dread of turbulent Borderers. Her daughter Margaret married 
Robert Sackville, Earl of Dorset and probably carried away her 
mother's picture to Drayton ; while Thomas, the eldest son, 
eventually became first Earl of Suffolk, and the builder of Audley 
End. The Duchess of Norfolk died in 1563, at the early age 
of twenty-three. 

Thomas, fourth Duke of Norfolk, who thus became a 
widower for the second time in his twenty-seventh year, was 
son to the celebrated Lord Surrey. The small portrait of him 
on panel is by an unknown painter. He appears to have been 
a man of most amiable character, and there is a letter written 
by him to his children previous to his execution containing a 
passage which shows both his kindness of heart and the interest 
he took in his Audley End estates, by the mention of St. Aylott's, 



auMe^ lEn^ 185 

still a farm on the property. He says, addressing Lord Thomas 
Howard : 

"Tom, 1 had forgotten to request one thing at your hands, 
which 1 hope you will hereafter, when the time cometh, per- 
form. It is this : I promised Bowles a lease of a f^irm of yours 
in your hands called St. Aylott's, which if I had lived 1 would 
have performed ; and now 1 hope you will, if God send you 
to come to years, perform as much as I would have done. He 
hath been as honest and true a servant to your father as any 
that he hath had, and therefore 1 hope at this my request, he 
shall have the lease at your hand." 

The Duke of Norfolk was beheaded on September 2, 1S72, 
for desiring to marry Mary Queen of Scots, thus meeting the 
same fate under Queen Elizabeth which his father had ex- 
perienced under Henry Vlll. 

Portraits of Lady Audley's nieces. Lady Jane Grey and Lady 
Katherine Grey, are at Audley End. Lady Katherine, who 
married Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, is represented with 
her infant son, Lord Beauchamp, in her arms. He was born in 
the Tower, where Queen Elizabeth, indignant at her marriage, 
had imprisoned her. Lady Katherine's captivity was continued 
at Pyrgo, in Essex, where she died of a broken heart ; so that 
her fate, while less tragic, was nearly as sad as that of her 
sister. Sir Thomas Lumsford's portrait hangs in the Hall at the 
top of the stone staircase. He was the well-known Cavalier 
whose devotion to his royal master was considered a crime, and 
to whom his enemies imputed all sorts of cruelty. 

Passing from the Hall through a small room hung with 
tapestry, of which only a portion is real old work, one door 
leads to the Billiard-room, and another door opens into the south 
lobby ; by a passage on the right from this the ground-floor 
rooms in the south wing are reached. At the foot of the south 



1 86 HuMei? )6nt) 

staircase, which is of oak, finely carved, and ot very handsome 
design, hangs the large print of Audley End in its original 
splendour, engraved by Henry Winstanley. 

Winstanley was Clerk of the Works to Charles 11. during 
the time of that King's occupation of Audley End, and the ser- 
ies of views engraved by him are of the greatest value in show- 
ing what the house was in its original state. It was this 
same Henry Winstanley who built the first Eddystone Light- 
house, and perished there in the great storm of November 25, 

I/03. 

A suite of state apartments are among the rooms on the 
ground floor. 

The ceiling of the State Bedroom was designed by Adam. 
The hangings of the bed are of very pale blue silk, richly em- 
broidered, and are supposed to have been made out of a Court 
gown of Lady Portsmouth's. A full-length portrait of Queen 
Charlotte hangs opposite, copied by Honeyman from the Gains- 
borough at Windsor. 

The next room, fitted as a boudoir, has walls and ceilings 
painted by Biagio Rebecca. 

All the principal sitting-rooms are on the first floor. The 
Saloon can be reached either by the stone staircase leading from 
the Hall, or by the oak staircase of the south wing. 

The Saloon, which is sixty feet long, was once called the 
Fish Room, because dolphins and sea monsters are represented in 
bold relief on the ceiling. This ceiling, which is of stucco divided 
into thirty-two compartments, has finely-wrought pendants sus- 
pended from each angle. The walls are panelled with wood, 
painted white and gold in divisions, forming a series of arches, 
which frame the collection of portraits all round the room. These 
pictures, most of which are copies, are placed in order to show 
the descent and succession of the owners of Audley End. The 



HuMe^ lB\\t> 187 

arrangement by which the pictures appear to be let into the wall 
has a particularly good effect. A cornice of arabesques and 
grotesque heads is also in white and gold, as well as the fine 
chimneypiece, with its elaborate ornament and gilding. The 
coat-of-arms in the centre of this is that of Thomas, first Earl of 
Suffolk, impaling Knyvett and its quarterings, encircled with the 
Garter ; while the arms of Lord Howard, and his first and second 
wives, with two classical figures, were painted by Biagio Re- 
becca. A large western bow-window is raised by three steps 
above the level of the floor of the room, and commands a charm- 
ing view of the lawn, river, and picturesque old red stables. An 
inscription in this room records its refitting and decorating by 
Lord Howard de Walden, "to commemorate the noble families 
through whom with gratitude he holds these possessions." Two 
swans, now acting as screens in this room, belonged in their life- 
time to the numerous tribe of swans on the river near at hand. 
Over two doorways are half-length portraits of Henry Vlll. and 
of Queen Elizabeth, copied by Rebecca from originals at Kensing- 
ton and Hatfield. 

Lord Chancellor Audley, and his daughter, Margaret, Duch- 
ess of Norfolk, arrayed here in white satin and pearls with a large 
ruff, are on either side of the great doorway from the Hall. Then 
next to the Duke of Norfolk's portrait, in which a cherub weeping 
over the fatal axe symbolises his doom, we come to Lord Thomas 
Howard, the builder of Audley End, a view of which appears in 
the background. 

Well might the unfortunate Duke entreat his children "to 
beware of the Court " ; but the warning was unheeded by this 
son, who passed the greater part of his life there. 

Thomas Howard was born August 24, 1561, and was trained 
in the profession of arms by sea and land. Queen Elizabeth sum- 
moned him to Parliament, as Baron Howard de Walden, but it 



1 88 



HuMe^ EnD 



was under her successor that he attained to place and power. 
James 1. made him Earl of Suffolk in 1604, and he held for many 

years high and lucra-, 
five offices, becom- 
ing, in 16 14, Lord 
High Treasurer of 
England. 

Lord Suffolk was 
possessed of ample 
means, but his ex- 
travagance was un- 
bounded. We are 
1 1 d t h a t he ex- 
pended no less than 
;^ 1 90,000 in building 
Audley End ! B y 
his first wife, Mary, 
daughter of Lord 
Dacre of Gillesland, 
he had no children, 
and as she died when 
very young it seems doubtful whether his alliance with her 
was a marriage, or only a betrothal. And Lord Suffolk was 
very unfortunate in his choice of a second wife. This lady 
was Catherine, daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Knevit, or 
Knyvett, of Charlton in Wiltshire, and widow of Richard, eldest 
son of Robert Lord Rich. She was a celebrated beauty until 
161Q, when her charms were entirely destroyed by smallpox ; but 
she was terribly avaricious. She rendered herself odious by ex- 
torting money from persons who had business at the Treasury, 
and was accused of selling places procured by her intluence at 
Court. Lady Suffolk obtained a great ascendency over her 




PORTRAIT OF MARGARET AUDLEY, DUCHESS OF NORFOLK 




OAK CARVING IN HALL, POPE'S CHAIR, AND PORTRAITS OF LORD CHANCELLOR 
AUDLEY, THOMAS, FOURTH DUKE OF NORFOLK, AND LADY KATHERINE GREY 



husband, and the accusations brought against him, which obscured 
his fair fame, were no doubt aggravated by the evil transactions 
in which she was engaged. For although Lord Suffolk was de- 
prived of his oftice and committed to the Tower for nine days in 
1618, on a charge of alleged embezzlement of money received 
from the Dutch, the general opinion held was that his chief error 
was the concealment of his wife's conduct. Lady Suffolk is also 
said to have received bribes from the Constable of Castile, and 
this charge gave rise to the common saying that Audley End was 
built with Spanish gold. 

Lord Suffolk was partially restored to the King's favour in 
July, 1620; he died in 1626, and was buried at Walden. His 
widow survived him about ten years, but during that time she 
was reduced to great distress, and obliged to conceal herself from 
her creditors. 

The portraits of Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk, and his 
son James, third Earl, with James's first wife, Lady Susannah Rich, 
come next in order of the pictures. Theophilus, when Lord 
Walden, in his fLither's lifetime, was the author of a love sonnet 
found with his signature amongst the Ashmolean Manuscripts. 

When James, the third Earl, succeeded his brother, he must 
have found the estates in a sadly embarrassed condition. He was 
very lukewarm in his support of the Royal cause during the Civil 
Wars, but in spite of this was impeached by the Parliament in 
1647, and committed to the Tower for some months. After his 
release, however, he lived quietly at Audley End during the 
Commonwealth, and had interest enough with the ruling powers 
to secure his estates from sequestration. It was this same Earl 
James who, after selling the house at Audley End to Charles II., 
executed a settlement of his estates in 1687 which eventually 
secured them to the descendants of his elder daughter and co- 
heiress, Lady Essex Howard. Her portrait, an original by Sir 



Peter Lely, hangs on one side of the south bow-window in the 
Saloon, and that of her husband, Edward, first Lord Griffin, on 
the other. Both had Jacobite proclivities ; and at one time Lady 
Essex was sent to the Tower, while her husband was imprisoned 
there, and condemned to be beheaded, but reprieved. He, how- 
ever, died in the Tower in 1710, and was buried there. 

Earl James had another daughter (by his second wife), Lady 
Elizabeth Howard, who married Thomas Felton of Playford, to 
whose heirs the Barony of Howard de Walden ultimately re- 
verted, after the extinction of Lady Essex Howard's descendants 
in 1797.' 

James, second Lord Griffin, left one son, Edward, third Lord, 
who died without issue, and two daughters. The elder of these 
daughters, Elizabeth, married, first, her cousin, Henry Neville of 
Billingbear, who assumed the name of Grey, and secondly, John, 
Earl of Portsmouth ; but had no children. The younger, Anne, 
married William Whitwell, of Oundle in Northamptonshire, and 
was the mother of John Griffin Whitwell, who inherited the 
Audley End estates from his aunt. Lady Portsmouth, and made 
out his claim to the Barony of Howard de Walden as great- 
grandson of Lady Essex Howard and her husband, the first Lord 
Griffin. 

Lord Howard de Walden 's portrait, in the robes of the Order 
of the Bath, hangs on the west wall of the Saloon, between the 
portraits of his mother and aunt. 

Elizabeth, Lady Portsmouth, only established her right to the 
Audley End estates after a lawsuit with Thomas, second Earl of 
Effingham, to whom Charles, ninth Earl of Suffolk, had be- 
queathed their reversion after his brother Henry's death. Judg- 
ment was given for Lady Portsmouth, in accordance with Earl 

' Mrs. Parker, Lord Howard de Walden 's youngest sister, survived about a year, but never estab- 
lished her claim to the title. 



192 



auMe^ ]en& 



James's settlement, and Earl Charles's disposition of the property 
set aside. 

Curiously enough, as has been mentioned, the house was 
not included in this settlement, for Earl James having in 1669 dis- 
posed of it to Charles 11., it was in 1687, and for some years after, 
Crown property. But the purchase money of ^50,000 was never 
fully paid, some remaining on mortgage, so that the house was 




I 



't&Jl'Olill^lklk. 




PORTRAITS OF ELIZABETH, COUNTESS OF PORTSMOUTH, LORD HOWARD DE WALDEN, 
AND HON. MRS. WHITWELL 



reconveyed to Henry, fifth Earl of Suffolk, in 1701, on his relin- 
quishing all claim to the mortgage. 

It has always been asserted that William ill., during his 
ownership of Audley End, took away from it many valuable ar- 
ticles for which the family never received any equivalent, and 
especially the tapestry, valued at /4')00. If tradition be correct, 
this was sent to the Palace of Loo, in Holland, although Horace 
Walpole says that it went to Windsor Castle. 

Lord Effingham, after the lawsuit went against him, was 
under the circumstances glad to sell the house with the land 



auMe^ y£\\t) 193 

adjoining it to Lady Portsmouth for the sum of / 10,000 ! A small 
amount indeed in comparison with its value. Six Lords Suftblk, 
possessors of the Audley End property, had thus died in a little 
over thirty-five years. ^ 

Lord Howard de Walden served for many years in the army, 
and before he became a peer was M.P. for Andover. He was 
twice married, but left no children, and his three brothers and 
five sisters also died without leaving any descendants. 

As the Lord Treasurer founded the original house, so Lord 
Howard may be regarded as the restorer of the remaining por- 
tion ; for he expended / 100,000 in altering and improving the 
house and grounds at Audley End. In 1788, the Barony of Bray- 
brooke was granted him, with a special remainder to his kinsman, 
Richard Aldworth Neville, of Billingbear, in Berkshire, on whom 
he settled Audley End, and who was grandfather to the present 
owner, Charles, fifth Lord Braybrooke. Lord Howard died May 
26, 1797, after a long and honourable life, and is buried in Walden 
Church. 

The Saloon at Audley End is a particularly cheerful room ; 
indeed, the rooms all over the house are well lit and entirely 
free from the gloom which often pervades the large and lofty 
rooms in many old houses. "Next to the Saloon, with windows 
facing south, is Lord Braybrooke's Sitting-room, which has a 
carved chimneypiece in white and gold, handsomely moulded 
ceiling and walls hung with red. Many pictures, chiefly of the 
Dutch School, are in this room, which opens into the South 
Library. The Great Library is at the extreme end of the south 
wing ; it has a large bow-window facing east, from which is 
obtained a fine view over the fiower garden and park, with the 
spire of Saffron Walden Church in the distance. On the chim- 

' After the death of the tenth Earl of Suffolk, this Earldom reverted to the Earls of Berkshire, de- 
scended from the second son of the Lord Treasurer. 



194 HuMei? £nt) 

neypiece are blazoned the arms of Lord Audley, and Richard, 
third Lord Braybrooke, with his wife Lady Jane Cornwallis's' 
arms in a scutcheon of pretence on his shield. In the centre 
of the room is a large ottoman with silk covering, richly em- 
broidered in flowers and gold thread. This belonged to Queen 
Charlotte, and was bought when her things were sold after her 
death ; it is believed to be the work of some of the royal family. 
A large number of books are arranged in the two Libraries, and 
a splendid illuminated Psalter of the time of Edward 1., formerly 
belonging to the Cornwallis family, is the gem of the collection. 

The Dining-room faces north into the quadrangle. This 
room was enlarged by taking down the wall between it and the 
next apartment. The mouldings of the ceilings and friezes at 
the two ends do not therefore correspond. There are many 
interesting portraits in this room. The only original painting 
of George II., by Pine, is at one end. This King's dislike to 
sitting for his picture is well known, and the artist had to watch 
the opportunity to take a surreptitious sketch while he passed 
down the staircase of Kensington Palace. George 111. asked for 
this portrait, but in vain, as Lord Howard had made the picture 
an heirloom ; but it was copied for Windsor. 

At the opposite end hangs a full-length of Charles, first 
Marquis Cornwallis, in the robes of the Garter, by Sir W. 
Beechey. This distinguished soldier and statesman was grand- 
father to Jane, Lady Braybrooke. 

There is a portrait by Dobson of Sir Charles Lucas, who was 
shot by the Roundheads for his gallant defence of Colchester for 
the King. The head of a large dog appears in this picture, and 
tradition says that this favourite dog was killed and eaten during 
the siege of Colchester, so terrible were the straits to which the 
garrison were reduced for food. 

' She was eldest daughter and co-heiress to Cliarles, second and last Marquis of Cornwallis. 




195 



196 aut)lei2 iSnt) 

A full-length of Richard Neville of Billingbear, by Van- 
derbank, was painted for Mr. John Dodd, M.P. for Reading, 
who fitted up his gallery at Swallowfield in Berkshire with 
pictures of his intimate friends, which were all dispersed after 
his death. Mr. Neville is represented in the blue suit worn by 
him at Mr. Dodd's wedding. The picture of John, Marquis of 
Granby, belonged to the same collection. It was painted by 
Ramsay, in 1745. Lord Granby was Commander-in-chief of 
the British forces in Germany in 1759, and this portrait is said 
to be the onl\' one of him taken in civilian dress. 

There is also a half-length portrait of Mary II., in a Fontange 
head-dress, holding a fan, by Vanderwaart. 

In the south lobby there is a charming portrait by Romney 
of Lady Mary Singleton, nee Cornwallis. From this lobby a door 
leads into the Picture Gallery, often used as a sitting-room. 
Cases of stuffed birds are placed along the walls, and over them 
hang portraits of the Cornwallis family. The collection of birds 
is a very good one, and there are specimens of the beautiful gold 
and silver pheasants which, up to a few years ago, were kept 
in an enclosed aviary of five acres in extent, on the Ring Hill in 
the park, about a mile from the house. Here is also an albatross, 
its size making one feel the deepest sympathy for Coleridge's 
"Ancient Mariner" with such a bird hanging round his neck! 
Some glass cases on tables in this gallery contain various interest- 
ing relics and curiosities, including a massive ring with a large 
jewelled bird, which once belonged to Tippoo Saib. There is 
also a snuff-box which belonged to Voltaire, containing a letter 
written by him. The north lobby leads to the north wing, 
where are Lord and Lady Braybrooke's private rooms, while a 
door on the left opens into a small gallery at the back of the 
screen in the Great Hall. When the heavy, carved doors of this 
screen are open, a good view is obtained of the Hall below. 



auMe^ lent) 197 

This gallery communicates with the Chapel, which has no dis- 
tinguishing features. It contains the original plaster cast of the 
monument to Lord Cornwallis in St. Paul's Cathedral. The old 
Chapel, which was pulled down, was on the south side of the 
house. 

in Mrs. Delany's Life and Letters there is a letter giving a 
description of a marriage which took place in this present Chapel 
on November 14, 1786. The wedding was that of Miss Marianne 
Clayton, half-sister to Lord Howard's second wife, and the bride- 
groom was Colonel Honourable H. Fox. Another sister of the 
bride wrote this account to Miss Port, Mrs. Delany's niece, and her 
spelling is decidedly quaint. The ceremony " was performed this 
morning at half-past eight. We were all in the Galery at that 
time. . . . Her (the bride's) dress was silver muslin night 
gown trimmed with white sattin, a very fine sprigged muslin 
apron, and handkerchief trimmed with beautiful lace, and white 
silver shoes. . . . Colonel Fox was in a dark green coat, 
with a very pretty waistcoat she net him." 

The guests' costumes are then described, and Miss Clayton 
adds, "After having signed our names as witnesses, we went to 
breakfast, which was vastly pretty." The happy pair left Audley 
End at half-past ten in the morning. 

The oak staircase on the north side is a fine one, of entirely 
different design from that on the south side. 

The offices are detached buildings on the north side ; they 
were rebuilt some years ago, the previous offices having been, in 
1 88 1, destroyed by a fire, which fortunately did not extend to 
any portion of the house itself. The arched cloister on tlie 
ground fioor of the quadrangle facing east was inclosed some 
thirty years ago, and forms a long corridor of communication be- 
tween the north and south wings. It contains several cases of 
stuffed birds. A room on the ground fioor of the north wing is 



198 auDle^ jent) 

arranged as a museum. Here are some curious Roman re- 
mains, chiefly discovered in the neighbourhood, and collected 
by Richard, fourth Lord Braybrooke, who took keen interest in 
all archaeological discoveries. 

The flov/er-garden, with a fountain in the centre, is on the 
east side of the house. Part of this must once have been used as 
a burying-ground belonging to the Abbey, for many skulls and 
bones have been dug up. As late as 1887, two skeletons were 
discovered when some digging was going on. 

On the south side of the house numerous foundations and 
brick drains still exist under the lawn. A beautiful avenue of 
limes is on the south of the flower-garden, bounded by the fine 
old brick wall, which runs for some distance along the Saffron 
Walden road. The flower-garden is separated by a sunk fence 
from the Park, where the ground rises rapidly behind the house. 
A small Temple of Concord was placed in this part of the Park by 
Lord Howard, in 1792, to commemorate the recovery of George 
111. from his illness. Higher up in the deer-park Lord Howard 
also created a lofty column to the memory of his aunt, Lady 
Portsmouth. A gravel walk from the flower-garden leads to the 
Elysian garden, where the river was converted into a cascade, 
and is spanned by a bridge from which the kitchen-gardens are 
reached. These are of very large extent, surrounded and divided 
by walls of old red brick. Parts of these were formerly pad- 
docks, as at one time the third Lord Braybrooke, with Lord 
George Cavendish, owned and bred some racehorses, of which 
the famous "Sir Joshua" was one. "Sir Joshua" won eight 
times at Newmarket, but his chief victory was in a match there 
in April, 18 ib, when he beat Filho de Puta, the St. Leger winner. 
On this day the building of a bridge over the Cam, on the road 
leading from Walden to Wenden, was begun ; and when the 
bricklayers heard the result of the race they christened it 




A CORNER OF THE SALOON, AUDLEY END 



199 



200 But)k^ lEnb 

"Joshua's Bridge" in honour of the event, which name it has 
borne ever since. 

The Stables stand close to the river, on the left of the ap- 
proach to the house from the main road. The front extends one 
hundred and seventy feet, and the building is of most picturesque 
old red brick, toned and mellowed by age. It was certainly in 
existence at the time of the monastery, and is supposed to have 
been the hostel where strangers were entertained. On the north 
side facing the stable-yard are gables, projecting bows, and cen- 
tral doorway. The part now used as a coach-house is believed 
to have been the refectory. 

in 1670, after Charles 11. had purchased Audley End, the 
Court was established at "their new palace," as it was called, 
and Mr. Henshaw, one of the earliest members of the Royal So- 
ciety, writes an account to Sir Robert Paston of the manner in 
which the Queen and her ladies amused themselves : 

"Last week, there being a Faire near Audley End, the 
Queen, the Dutchesse of Richmond, the Dutchesse of Bucking- 
ham had a frolick to disguise themselves like country lasses, in 
red petticoats, waistcoats, etc., and so goe see the Faire. Sir 
Bernard Gascoign,^ on a cart-jade, rode before the Queen, another 
stranger before the Dutchesse of Buckingham, and Mr. Roper 
before Richmond. They had all so overdone it in their disguise, 
and look'd so much more like Antiques than country volk, that 
as soon as they came to the Faire the people began to goe after 
them ; but the Queen going to a booth to buy a pair of yellow 
stockins for her sweet-hart, and Sir Bernard asking for a pair of 
gloves sticht with blue, for his sweet-hart, they were soon, by 
their gebrish, found to be strangers, which drew a bigger flock 
about them. One amongst them had seen the Queen at dinner, 
knew her, and was proud of her knowledge : this soon brought 

' He was a German. 



HuMe^ En& 20I 

all the Faire in a crowd to stare at the Queen. Being thus dis- 
covered, they, as soon as they could, got to their horses ; but 
so many of the Faire as had horses got up with their wives, 
children, sweet-harts, or neighbours behind them, to get as 
much gape as they could till they brought them to the Court 
Gate. Thus by ill conduct was a merry frolick turned into a 
pennance." 

Queen Elizabeth paid two visits to the earlier house at 
Audley End. She was there for the hrst time in isyi, when it 
was the property of the Duke of Norfolk. But he was then in 
disgrace, and was at the moment in the custody of Sir Henry 
Neville and Henry Skipworth, though allowed to occupy his own 
residence at the Charter House. And the Queen, while staying 
at Audley End, absolutely issued, "from our Court at Audeley," 
a commission ''to examine the Duke of Norfolk touching the 
money he had sent to Scotland, and other matters," a curious 
manner of requiting her host's hospitality ! The second time 
that Queen Elizabeth came to Audley End, in 1S78, she received 
a deputation and presents from the University of Cambridge, 
^as well as presents from the Corporation of Walden. 

Another royal visitor was William of Orange, who, on his 
way from Cambridge to London, November 26, 1670, slept the 
night at Audley End. He was described at that time as a " well- 
countenanced man, with a handsome head of hayre of his owne." 
As William 111., he came again to Audley End in 1689, when 
it was one of the royal residences of his new kingdom. 

Samuel Pepys paid his first visit to Audley End in February, 
1659-60 : he says : 

" From Cambridge straight to Saffron Walden, where at the 
White Hart we set up our horses and took the master of the 
house to show us Audley End House, who took us through the 



202 auMe^ lEn^ 

park and so to the house, where the housekeeper showed us all 
the house, in which the stateliness of the ceilings, chimneypieces, 
and form of the whole was exceedingly worth seeing. He took 
us into the cellar, where we drank most admirable drink, a health 
to the King." 

As this visit took place three months before the Restoration, 
Pepys' toast was a bold measure at that critical period. 

On May 7, 1567, Pepys was again at Audley End, but he 
had become more fastidious : 

"Took coach to Audley End, and did go all over the house 
and garden, and mighty merry we were. The house indeed, 
do appear very fine, but not so fine as it hath heretofore to 
me . . . not one good suit of hangings in all the house, 
but all most ancient things. . . . Only the gallery is good, 
and above all things the cellars, where we went down and drank 
of much good liquor. . . . And then to the garden, and 
there did eat many grapes, and took some with us ; and so away 
thence well satisfied, though not to that degree that by my old 
esteem of the house 1 ought and did expect to have done, the 
situation of it not pleasing nie." 

Richard, third Lord Braybrooke, was the first editor of 
Samuel Pepys" Diary. He was also the author of the History 
of Audley End, which gives an interesting account of the house, 
and also of the various families who have at different times 
possessed the property. 

Cosmo, third Grand Duke of Tuscany, while travelling in 
England in 1509 as Hereditary Prince, visited Audley End and 
admired it greatly. The original narrative of his travels, still 
existing in the Laurentian Library at Florence, contains three 
large drawings of Audley End, and was written by Magolotti, the 
Prince's Secretary. This same Cosmo was a friend of Henry 
Neville of Warfield (son to Sir Henry Neville of Billingbear), 




203 



204 auMei? lEnb 

who was the author of various works, a Republican, and at one 
time a favourite of Oliver Cromwell. The Tuscan prince gave 
Henry Neville some curtains of crimson Florentine damask, with 
the saltire, the tlrst quartering of the Nevilles, worked in the 
pattern ; and by a curious coincidence these curtains were brought 
by the Nevilles to Audley End, the house which their donor had 
so much appreciated. They hung for many years in the South 
Library. 

The lawn in front of the house was levelled and laid down 
as a cricket-ground in 1842. It exceeds ''Lord's" in extent, and 
many cricket matches have been played on it, as both the present 
Lord Braybrooke and his father took great interest in cricket. 

Lord Howard employed Robert Adam the architect to build 
the stone bridge of three arches which crosses the river Cam on 
the road to Saffron Walden. Just after passing the "Lion" 
lodge in this direction, a narrow street on the right leads, through 
the hamlet known as Audley End village, to the old brick build- 
ings, dating from early in the fifteenth century, which once 
formed part of the property of the monastery. These comprise 
two courts, one now occupied as a farmhouse and known as 
the "Abbey Farm," the other arranged as almshouses for nine 
old women. These buildings, with their fine old chimneys, are 
half covered with ivy and creepers, and form a charming subject 
for a sketch. They face a wall which bounds the wood known 
as " Gamages," the entrance to which is opposite the lodge gates, 
and through which there is a pleasant drive, and shady walks 
in different directions. 

The high road in front of the house runs for a short distance 
through the Park, and on the slope to the west, opposite the 
house, is a round temple designed by Adam, which Lord Howard 
built to commemorate successes of the British arms in the war 
which ended in 1763. It was close to this temple that the aviary 




-4 




hI 




^ — m i iiiii Sfil 




^j 


-SB i.HIBMB 




m 


mm> m'Dfia 





EASTERN SIDE OF AUDLEY END 



205 



2o6 HuMe^ lEnD 

of gold and silver pheasants was placed ; and from the pleasant 
green rides in this part of the Park constant peeps of the house 
are obtained between the trees. 

An old hunting tower once stood on this hill, and was 
certainly more interesting than the temple which replaced it, 
being described by Stukeley as "placed in a great Roman camp 
called 'Ring Hill.'" The inclosure is still known as the Ring. 

Under the beech-trees in several parts of the Park truffles 
are found. The truffle seems to have been long known at 
Audley End, being mentioned by St. Evremond, who was on 
a visit there in 1670. It has at times been very abundant in the 
chalky soil west of the house, and is usually found a few inches 
below the surface. The truffle is obtained by means of dogs 
trained for the purpose, who, being attracted by the smell, and 
scratching up the ground with their feet, indicate the exact spot 
where the fungus lies, and are rewarded with a bit of cheese 
after each discovery. These dogs are of a particular breed, 
brought originally from France, and now obtained from Sussex, 
but they are not numerous. They are small and short-legged, 
having rough, shaggy hair like water-spaniels, and are by no 
means remarkable for their beauty. 

The culture of safl'ron, from which the town of Walden for 
many years derived so much advantage and took its arms, 
besides part of its name, has entirely disappeared from the 
neighbourhood. Holinshed says that it was first planted in 
Walden in the time of Edward 111., and there is a legend that 
it was introduced into England by a pilgrim who stole a bit of 
saffron and hid it in his palmer's staff, wishing to benefit his 
country. The saffron near Walden was usually grown on fallow 
land after a crop of barley. Saftron was presented at different 
times to royal and distinguished visitors by the Corporation of 
Walden. 



HiiMe^ jent) 207 

There are many springs in the Park, and one of them, the 
Lady Well, is mentioned by Holinshed as supposed to possess 
medicinal virtues. 

The earliest mention of the name of Audley End occurs in 
an old account-book belonging to the almshouses, in 1547, so 
that it was evidently derived from Sir Thomas Audley. The 
name of "End" is common to various hamlets in this part of 
Essex. 

The famous old house built by Lord Treasurer Suffolk has 
seen many stately pageants and many stirring scenes, and has 
experienced many vicissitudes, but too many of these events 
have been left unrecorded. Since the land was granted to Lord 
Chancellor Audley it has belonged to the Howards, the Crown, 
and the Griffins, from whom it passed to the Nevilles, its present 
owners. 

Audley End has borne its part in English history, and is 
well known as one of those "stately homes" in which England 
is richer than any other country. 



2)untobin Castle 



2og 














A PORTION OF THE OLD CASTLE OF DUNROBIN 



DUNROBIN CASTLE 



BY LORD RONALD SUTHERLAND GOWER 
I 

IN this paper I shall give first some account of the ancient 
family of Sutherland, which has owned the old Castle of 
Dunrobin in uninterrupted sequence since the days of a 
somewhat legendary Earl Robin, who, some seven hundred years 
ago, raised the castle on the hill which still bears his name, for 
" Dun " signifies in Gaelic, a hill, and "Robin," the prefix of the 
builder. 

Although antiquarians dispute as to the name of Dunrobin 
being taken from that of the Earl, and although it was only in 
1401 that the sixth Earl dated a letter from " Dunrobyn," and the 
eighth, in 14012, from " Dunrobbin," certain it is that for five cent- 
uries the castle has been known as Dunrobin, and it is undeniably 



2 12 H)unrobiii Caetle 

the oldest secular building now inhabited, and in use, and by the 
same family, in Scotland. 

Far back in the dim dawn of Scottish history, the House of 
Sutherland can claim to have existed in the region between the 
Spey and the Ness. In those far-distant days the family name 
was Moray, or " de Moravia." Later, it took the name of the 
county in which it dwelt. It changed again when, early in the 
sixteenth century, the heiress of the Sutherlands married a Gor- 
don ; but later on, Sutherland again became the surname, and the 
distinctive patronymic of the family which Freskin de Moravia 
had founded. 

Leaving these semi-prehistoric days, we come to facts. 
Hugo Freskin received patents from King David I. This Hugo 
had a brother William, from whom the Dukes of Athol descend. 
To Hugo (who died in 12 14) succeeded William, who became 
the first Earl of Sutherland, the rulers of this northern land having 
previously been termed "Jarls." Earl William fought the Danes, 
and lived in his fortress of Dunrobin ; and there is still to be seen 
near Dornoch, the capital of the county, a cross on Embo Sands 
where a mighty battle was fought between Earl William and the 
Danes. About this time King Alexander died, and also his infant 
daughter, the " Maid of Norway," and Edward 1. took the oppor- 
tunity of invading Scotland. There is in the Public Record Office 
a letter written by that monarch from St. Andrews, in which he 
thanks the Earl of Sutherland "for his fidelity." However, we 
find Earl William or his son in the Scottish army at Bannockburn, 
fighting by the side of the Bruce against the English army led by 
Baliol. The fourth Earl, Kenneth, took part in the battle of Hali- 
don Hill in 13^3. The sixth attracted by his martial doings the 
praise of Froissart, who extolled his prowess, and won the 
greater honour of wedding Margaret or Margeory, Bruce's sister. 
Pope Clement sent on this occasion, from Avignon, a kindly 




THE OLD CASTLE OF DUNROBIN 

FROM A DRAWING BY THE " DUCHESS-COUNTESS " OF SUTHERLAND 



213 



214 



Dunrobin Castle 



message to the newly married pair, and hoped that "their union 
might prove an immediate remedy to the murders, foray burnings 
and depredations which ceased not to happen in Scotland." But, 
as all readers of early Scottish and even of more recent history 
are aware, this pious wish of the Pope's was not fulfilled. Prin- 
cess Margaret was presented, on her marriage, with the fief of 

Lowrie in Forfarshire 
by the King, and the 
Earl received Dunot- 
tar Castle, which still 
rears its noble ruin 
from its rocky base 
over the sea. Du- 
nottar passed in 1358 
into the possession of 
the Lindsays and the 
Keiths, Earls Mari- 
schal of Scotland. 
There is still at Dun- 
robin a trace of Prin- 
cess Margaret in the 
old walls which en- 
close her garden ; she 
appears to have had 
the love of tlowers in her nature, and planted fruit trees among 
the flowers, as one finds often in the old Scottish homes ; and 
even in those days, Dunrobin must have had the supreme beauty 
and choice of flowers and fruit trees under its old castle walls and 
in the garden, which under my mother's perfect taste became the 
most beautiful in the north of Scotland. This royal marriage 
proved a sterile one, and none of the blood royal of Bruce 
came into the House of Sutherland through this union, although 




-.■■1f<M£^., ^-^^ 




DUNROBIN FROM THE SEA 



Dnnrobin Castle 215 

the Sutherlands have, as well as the Gowers, several royal 
descents.^ 

The tenth Earl was also a warrior, and apparently an un- 
lucky one ; for, being taken prisoner and kept in durance in 
England, his beautiful sovereign, Queen Mary, wrote a letter 
dated Holyrood, 1565, to Elizabeth, entreating for the Earl, " a 
prisoner" at "Newark. 

The next Earl, the eleventh, was also a fighter, but he ap- 
pears to have preferred harassing his neighbours in Ross and 
Caithness to taking a wider field. Earl Alexander, as this one 
was named, had married Jean Gordon, the first wife of Bothwell. 
To this marriage a curious circumstance is attached : had the 
Countess chosen to produce a dispensation for her marrying 
Bothwell, which only came to light a few years back at Dun- 
robin, Jean Sutherland might have prevented the Queen from 
marrying Bothwell, which, had she so done, would have changed 
the whole course of Scottish and perhaps of English history. 

The thirteenth Earl was known in his day by the nickname 
of " Ian Glass" — Grey or Blue John — I imagine from the colour 
of his eyes, which in his portrait at Dunrobin are of a steely blue. 
He wears on his long grey locks a skull cap. This Earl was a 
considerable man in his day, and espoused the cause of the 
" Confession of Faith," or the National Covenant. As Premier 
Earl of Scotland, he was the first to sign his name on the scroll 
on that famous day in the churchyard of the Greyfriars Church 
in Edinburgh. What Runnymede and Magna Charta were to 
England, such was the covenant signed in the churchyard of the 
Greyfriars to Scotland — the charter of civil and religious liberty. 
When he signed that memorable scroll Earl John was but twenty- 
four years old (1638), and he lived to be called by the historian 

' I have been told that I am wrong in this statement, and that we are descended from Robert 
Bruce, but I have no reason for alterina; what I have written above. — R. S. G. 



2l6 



Dunrobin Castle 



Wodrow, "the good old Earl, eminent for religion before the 
Restoration, and he did great service for it in his country." He 
died, aged seventy, in 1679. 

To John succeeded George, fourteenth Earl, who, to judge 
by his rubicund visage in his portrait, wearing a Louis XIV. wig 
and a Steenkirk collar falling over his gorget, was fond of looking 
on the wine when it was red. He and his brother made a voyage 




. ti- 



t <^Sr* . "I '-' 



THE BRIDGE, GOLSPIE; MEETING-PLACE OF THE CLAN SUTHERLAND 

to London in 1654, ^'id I regret that 1 have not space enough to 
quote at length an account of that voyage, one which in those 
days was not without peril, and not lightly to be undertaken. 
The old Earl, their father, evidently had the same distressed 
feelings as his countryman of recent days, who, having passed 
some hours in London, exclaimed with deep regret that "bang 
went saxpence ! " for his sons during their tour spent over six 
hundred pounds (English pounds, presumably), a sum which the 
father must have felt to be heavy — and he complains of the fact. 
Very curious was the Scotch spelling in those days : we fmd 




THE BRIDGE IN GOLSPIE GLEN 



217 



2i8 2)unroMn Castle 

for Woolwich, "Vllage," and at Billingsgate the young Scots 
have a sight " of a droose adarre." At Hampton Court they go 
"a sieing a man wryt with his mouth/' And they play golf, 
tennis and bowls, cards and chess, and they also see a bull- 
baiting. They buy books, such books! "a litle boke,, called 
Modern Policie," and "a little map booke," also "a bcoke 
called Jehu in his Colloiirs," but among this rubbish I am glad 
to see that they also buy Religio Medici. 

Lord Strathnaver, for that was the name of the elder brother, 
and the younger, Robert Sutherland, saw something in London 
of the Marquis of Argyll — he who was executed in 1661 ; 
whether they saw Cromwell is not stated, but it is probable 
that they did, as both Strathnavar and his father were Crom- 
wellians, and the former accepted from the Protector the office 
of a commissioner to try any offences against Cromwell. In 
later life Earl George — when he succeeded his father ^ — travelled 
in Germany. Dying at the age of seventy, he was buried in 
Holyrood Chapel, where is a handsome monument which re- 
cords his own and his wife's titles and virtues. Earl George's 
wife was Lady Jean Wemyss, the widow of the Earl of Angus. 
She was a great friend of Queen Mary, the wife of William 
111., who gave her a superb diamond ring, which, although an 
heirloom, disappeared at the time of my brother's death in 
1892. 

John, son of George, succeeded, in 1703, as fifteenth Earl. 
He was a much-married man, having been wedded thrice. Like 
the good old covenanting Earl John, this grandson of his had 
a nickname, being called John Roy, — doubtless owing to his 
very rubicund complexion. It was in the reign of Earl Roy that 
the winehouse in the garden of Dunrobin, now converted into 
a museum, was built ; and there the gentlemen would indulge 
in their Homeric drinking bouts, which sometimes lasted for 



2)unrobin Caetle 



219 



whole days and nights, and only ended either with the ex- 
haustion of the cellar or the total insensibility of the topers. 

John Roy lived through troublous times : he saw the insur- 
rection of Argyll in i68s, the Revolution of '88, the union of 
Scotland to England, and the Jacobite rising in 17 15. In all of 
these events the Earl took a prominent part, but space forbids 
me to do more than state the fact. Gallant Dundee was related 
by marriage to Earl Roy, he and Dundee having married sisters — 




GOLSPIE GLEN, NEAR DUNROBIN CASTLE 

daughters of William, Lord Cochrane. This relationship did not 
make them agree politically ; and while Earl Roy raised a regi- 
ment to fight for William, Dundee took the opposite side, and 
soon ended his romantic career by a bullet in the Pass of Killie- 
crankie. Earl Roy died at Cheldson in 171^, and was succeeded 
by his grandson, William, sixteenth Earl of Sutherland. The 
new Earl had been educated in France ; he married a young 
cousin of the House of Wemyss. The marriage proved a most 
happy one. Lady Sutherland's nephew was the Lord Elcho who 
took so active a part in the "Forty-five," and also at the end 



2 20 H)unrobin Castle 

of the battle of Culloden seized Prince Charlie's horse's bridle 
and turned him from the fatal field. 

At Dunrobin are the account-books and the bills of fare of 
the young couple. In those days, and in that old northern castle, 
one is surprised to hear of a household containing sixteen serv- 
ants. At that time the domestic bipeds were treated more like 
quadrupeds than human and fellow-beings, and couched where 
they could. Probably the Dunrobin scullery-maid of the end of 
this century is more decently and comfortably lodged than were 
the Earl and Countess of Sutherland at Dunrobin a century and a 
half ago. 

We have now come to the most interesting episode in 
the history of Dunrobin, namely the rebellion of " Forty-five." 
Lord Sutherland, who fought with the Hanoverians at Culloden, 
was so much impoverished by the war, that he writes that he 
had not a penny of his rent to spend that year. The soldiers he 
had raised for King George had swallowed all, and, after paying 
their expenses, he had not a bawbee to bless himself with ! 
What was still worse was that his castle was seized by the rebels. 
This occurred in 1746. There had been a feud between the fam- 
ilies of Cromartie and Sutherland, and the two Earls took oppo- 
site sides in the war. In a surprise one night, three hundred 
"rebels," led by Macdonald of Clanronald, took Dunrobin. The 
Earl had barely time to escape by sea. The rebels behaved 
abominably : they held a dirk to Lady Sutherland's fair bosom to 
make her tell what had become of her husband. What might have 
happened, goodness knows, had not Captain Faulkner's sloop- 
of-war, the Hound, luckily been riding at anchor off Dunrobin. 

Retaliation followed : Lord Cromartie's house at Tarbat was 
sacked, and he himself was soon after captured at Dunrobin by 
the Sutherland Militia, where he had taken refuge with a handful 
of rebel officers. 




DUNROBIN CASTLE AND ITS GARDENS 



2)imrobin Castle 223 

Tradition avers that the Earl sought shelter under a settee in 
Lady Sutherland's sitting-room ; scandal whispers that he tried to 
hide under her ladyship's hoop — but I feel convinced that my 
virtuous ancestress, even were she at heart, as most of the fine 
Scottish ladies were at that time, a Jacobite, would not have car- 
ried her sympathy so far. The rest of Cromartie's history in rela- 
tion to the rebellion is too well known to require my adding to 
the above ; but what was strange was that my eldest brother 
should, a little more than a century after those stirring events in 
Dunrobin, have wedded the heiress of the Cromarties ! 

1 have been informed lately of a tradition that my ancestress 
not only tried to conceal Lord Cromartie, but that she actually 
wrote to Prince Charlie and begged him to allow her to ride with 
him — previous, of course, to CuUoden — and to raise the county 
for his cause. But I believe none of this. There is another un- 
founded tradition, that Lord Sutherland interceded with the Gov- 
ernment for Lord Cromartie, but there is nothing to confirm what 
one hopes was the case. It is a fact, however, that the child 
born to Lady Cromartie immediately after the terrible time she 
passed when her husband's life hung in the balance bore on its 
neck the mark of the executioner's axe. 

The days, one can hardly call them of chivalry, but of civil 
brawl and internecine warfare, had now closed ; the new era had 
commenced. The power of the Chiefs of the Clans was broken, 
never to rise again. 

On an old stone bridge crossing a pretty brown-coloured 
burn which rushes from Golspie Glen to the North Sea near Dun- 
robin, is a carved upright stone, bearing upon it the arms of the 
house of Sutherland and an Earl's coronet with the following in- 
scription : — ''fiw f heur Chatt de chearn na drochaite big gj inn 
Chlann Chattigh nam buadh." This trenchant inscription, when 
turned into English as she is spoke, means, "The great man of 



2 24 H)unrobln Castle 

the Catts (the Gaelic appellation of Clan Sutherland) to the head 
of the little bridge calls the Clan Cattaich of the Victories." This 
was the trysting-place where the chief met his soldiers and clans- 
men, on a declaration of war, "for to murder and to ravish"; 
now nothing more martial than the tine body of Sutherland Vol- 
unteers passes over the spot where for centuries the men of 
Sutherland met in grim court, to be led to the death by their 
liege chief and war lord. 

In 1747, the Earl lost his wife, and he soon joined her in the 
silent land, dying in 1750 at Montauban, where he had gone in 
hopes of recovering his health. His brother who survived him, 
on receiving his last letter, writes to a friend : " O what a merse 
it wod be to get him home to this plase ! " Indeed, the spelling 
of the "quality" in the middle of that century was arbitrary and 
peculiar. William was succeeded by his son William, seven- 
teenth Earl. 

The most interesting fact about this Earl was that he had 
his portrait painted by Ramsay, at full length, in full Highland 
costume — kilt, sporran, philibeg, and all. 1 believe it to be, in 
spite of all my nephew Archibald Campbell's statements to the 
contrary, a very early, if not the earliest representation of the 
kilt as it is now worn. The Highland costume as we know it, 
is in fact, more a fancy than a real historical costume ; and 
certainly there is no authentic represer' ^tion of it earlier than 
this fine full-length portrait of my great-grandfather which hangs 
in the great State Room at Dunrobin. 

In 1 76 1, Lord Sutherland married ; his wife was a Maxwell. 
The young couple attended George 111. 's coronation and marriage, 
and Horace Walpole wrote that Lady Sutherland is "a most 
perfect beauty." But the poor "perfect beauty " lived but a 
short life ; and half a dozen years after the coronation in which 
she shone Lord George Sackville writes from Bath, saying that 



2)unrobin Castle 225 

"poor Lady Sutherland is dead, and I fear my Lord will not 
live many days. A more unlucky event never happened. She 
died worn out with her constant attendance on him," and she 
was followed to the grave by her husband within a few days. 
They repose in that beautiful old ruined chapel at Holyrood, 
and an inscription in Dornoch Church bears the appropriate lines : 
''They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death 
they were not divided." Their only surviving daughter, Eliza- 
beth, who was born in 1765, succeeded to the vast estates of the 
house. Her title was contested by the descendants of Sir Robert 
Gordon, a worthy who had written in the sixteenth century a his- 
tory of the Earldom of Sutherland. The little lady won the case, 
and was acknowledged, in England as well as in Scotland, 
rightful heiress of the great earldom. Robertson the histor- 
ian directed her studies, and Sir Walter Scott has recorded 
in his diary his delight at seeing the little heiress cantering 
alongside the carriage of Lady Elva, the prim-looking old lady — 
to judge by her portrait at Dunrobin by Allan Ramsay — who 
was the grandmother and guardian of little Elizabeth Sutherland. 
It was not until 1782 that Lady Sutherland first saw her ancestral 
home. Then in the old castle by the sea the old feudal customs 
still obtained : An iron portcullis was let down at the gloaming ; 
and attended by her chief factor, and followed by several re- 
tainers, the youthful Countess heard before the castle gates the 
plaints of her clansmen. Within a few yards of the spot where 
she ordained justice and awarded claims, rises a hill on which 
the gruesome gibbet had stood for centuries in her forbears' 
time, and which is still known as the Gallows Hill. Not many 
years ago 1 remember seeing the skull and bones of some poor 
unfortunate turned up when a new seat was being fixed up in 
that place of doom. 

Lady Sutherland made a brilliant marriage. In 1785, she 



226 Dunrobin Castle 

married the heir of the wealthy house of Gower — Lord Trent- 
ham was then the title of the future Earl Gower, Marquis of 
Staflbrd, and finally first Duke of Sutherland. Uniting in his 
person the wealth of the Gowers and of his maternal uncle the 
last Duke of Bridgewater, he became the richest aristocrat in 
Great Britain. Lord Trentham became in 1786 Earl Gower ; he 
was appointed Ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI. in 1790, 
a post he held till September, 17Q2, when the royal party were 
prisoners, and on the eve of the declaration of war between 
France and England. 1 have published all the letters that I 
could find written by my grandmother during those tremendous 
days ; and although 1 am informed by my friend Lady Burdett- 
Coutts that she remembers my grandmother telling her she had 
kept a diary during her stay in Paris, 1 have been unable to 
discover one in any of her old bureaus. Having mentioned the 
name of the venerated Baroness, 1 may add that until this year 
(1901) there were only two ladies 1 had the honour to know 
who remembered the " Duchess-Countess," as my grandmother 
was called : the first was her late Majesty, the other, Lady 
Burdett-Coutts. 

Lady Sutherland was an excellent artist, and her water- 
colour landscapes of scenes in Sutherland would not disgrace 
some of the first artists of her day ; she also etched, and well ; 
but 1 fear to be tempted to add, after writing about her proficiency 
in water-colour painting, that " of such are the Kingdom of 
Heaven." 

In her published letters Lady Granville, who had married 
Lord Gower's younger and half-brother, Granville Gower, utter- 
wards first Earl Granville, is hardly fair to my grandmother. 
She is ever carping at her and at her husband — Lady Granville's 
brother-in-law. I think the reason that made Lady Granville so 
unjust in her estimate of my grandmother was because Lady 




227 



228 H)unrobin Castle 

Sutherland was not born a Cavendish or a Howard ; outside 
these two families, and perhaps the Cowers, there seems to 
have been no salvation in Lady Cranville's eyes. My grand- 
mother, when in Rome soon after her marriage, had a sight of the 
once brilliant and handsome Prince Charlie ; when she saw him 
he was a bloated-faced, tottering old man — a mere wreck of a 
man. She was not presented to him, as her name could not but 
have awakened sad feelings in the poor old Prince's half-softened 
brain. In 1793, the Countess raised a regiment for the defence of 
the North, against the French ; and this regiment is now known 
as the Sutherland and Argyll Highlanders — the famous old 93rd. 

Both Lady Sutherland and her husband were much blamed 
for the severity with which the evictions in Sutherland were 
carried out ; but to anyone who cares to inquire into that 
subject it will be evident that where the blame should rest v/as 
not on themselves but on their agents. An immense sum of 
money was employed by Lord Stafford in improving the county, 
over which his wife was chieftainess ; and the effect of their 
policy is shown at the present day, where the rents have, 
instead of being diminished by the Crofters' Commissioners, 
been raised in many instances. 

In 1833, Lord Stafford was raised to a Dukedom, that of 
Sutherland being conferred on him ; but he lived only a few 
months to enjoy the honours, for he died at Dunrobin in the 
summer of that year. Ten thousand people are said to have 
been present when he was buried in the Cathedral Church of 
Dornoch, which he and his wife had restored in the execrable 
taste that then obtained in matters relating to Church archi- 
tecture. His widow survived him six years, dying in London 
in 1819, in her seventy-fourth year. In a letter written by my 
aunt, the Duchess of Norfolk, to my father, who was then in 
Rome, she says : 



2)unrobin (Xaetle 229 

"A more entirely easy, placid, contented, and serene last 
illness never can have been. The beauty of her character has 
shone conspicuously in it — never one word of complaint, or 
impatience, but as long as the power of speech remained, always 
something considerate and kind to say to everybody that came 
near, and always the most gracious, pleasing way with regard 
to anything that was done for her. The Queen has been very 
kind in sending to enquire." 

She was laid by the side of her husband in the old tomb 
of her ancestors in the Cathedral of Dornoch. 

Her children consisted of two sons : the eldest, my father, 
born in 1786, and Francis, who became first Earl of Ellesmere ; 
and two daughters, Charlotte, afterwards Duchess of Norfolk, 
and grandmother of the present Duke, and Elizabeth, afterwards 
Lady Westminster, mother of the first Duke of Westminster. 
With the death of the "Duchess-Countess" ends the story of 
old Dunrobin. 

It was my parents who created the new Dunrobin, not 
touching a stone of the old building, but practically surrounding 
it with a palace, and with gardens of perfect beauty, of perfect 
taste, and of exquisite symmetry. 



11 



What would one not give, could one find an account written 
by Queen Elizabeth describing the houses she stopped at during 
some of her famous progresses ! Imagine " Gloriana " describing 
Kenilworth and Hatfield, Burghley and Sion ! 

Although no such descriptions by the " Virgin Queen" have 
come down to us, we can congratulate ourselves on having 
descriptions of some of the Scottish places visited by our late 
beloved Queen described by herself, and published in the two 



230 2)unrobin Castle 

interesting volumes of Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the 
Highlands." 

In the second series of these historic Leaves, Her Majesty 
described most fully her visit to Dunrobin in September, 1872, 
and 1 think in my notice of that place I cannot do better tkan 
quote the admirable description the Queen has left of that visit. 
Describing the arrival, the Queen wrote : — 

"Everywhere the loyalty and enthusiasm were very great. 
In about ten minutes we were at Dunrobin Castle. Coming 
suddenly upon it as one does, or rather driving down to it, it 
has a very tine imposing appearance, with its very high roof 
and turrets, a mixture of an old Scotch castle and French chateau. 
Constance Westminster was at the door, and Annie Sutherland's 
little girl in the hall, which is, as also the staircase, all of stone, 
with a sort of gallery round opening into a corridor. . . . 
The Duchess took me to my rooms, which had been purposely 
arranged, and handsomely furnished by the dear late Duke and 
Duchess for us both, and consist of a sitting-room next to the 
drawing-room, which opens into the bedroom and another room, 
which is my maid's room, and was intended for dearest Albert's 
dressing-room. ... I will now describe the rooms. They 
are very high ; the bedroom is the largest, and very handsome, 
with a beautiful bed, with white and gold flowers and doves 
at each corner (just like one at Cliveden) " [Her Majesty spells 
Cliveden thus, "Clieveden," and 1 have the audacity to correct 
that spelling] "with light blue furniture, and gold and white 
round the cornice of the ceiling ; pale blue and white panels ; 
blue satin spangled with yellow leaves (which look just like 
gold) on the walls ; and furniture and carpet to match. The 
dressing-room the same, but pale blue and pink silk tinted, on 
the walls. The sitting-room pale sea-green satin, with the 
cyphers of the late Duke and Duchess and their daughters on 




231 



232 Buniobin Castle 

the ceiling. The furniture of light wood, and the sofas, chairs, 
tables, etc., remind me greatly of Cliveden and Stafford House. 
The little boudoir has a small domed ceiling, spangled with 
golden stars, and the same furniture. There are some pretty 

pictures in the sitting-room and prints in the other rooms 

1 walked out with the Duchess and Beatrice to the steps, of 
which there are several flights, leading down to the garden, 
which is very pretty, and where there are fountains ; and from 
here straight on to the sea, which is closer to the house by half 
a mile, 1 should say, than at Osborne. We walked along here, 
and then up and into the pretty byre for Ayrshire cows ; and a 
little farther on to the dairy, a very nice, cool round one. The 
Duchess told Brown to open the sitting-room, and we found 
it occupied by a policeman in bed, which we were not at all 
prepared for, and which caused much amusement. . . . We 
walked back through the kitchen garden, which is very well 
kept. . . . We came home by the steps again. There is 
plenty of shade, but rather too many trees. The old part of the 
Castle is as old as the twelfth century. The late Duke enlarged 
it and added on the towers, and finished the new part in 1849-50." 

A few days later on the Queen has the following notice of 
one of the beautiful memorials in the vicinity of the Castle, a 
memorial to an old and devoted friend of the House of Sutherland, 
James Loch. In my father's and grandfather's time he had been 
factor for their vast estates, not only in Scotland, but in Stafford- 
shire and Shropshire; a man of the highest integrity — a grand 
type, as 1 remember him, of the flne old Scottish gentleman. Mr. 
Loch was the father of the present Lord Loch, of Dry Law. 

''We drove," writes Her Majesty on September 8th, 
"through the Uppat Woods, along the big burn drive, past 
the Pictish Tower, up to Mr. Loch's Memorial, which has the 
following inscription on it by the late Duchess: — 



Dunrobin (Tastle 233 

"'To THE Honourable Memory of 
JAMES LOCH 
Who loved in the serene evening of his life to look around him here. 
May his children's children gather here, 
and think of him whose life was spent 
in virtuous labour for the land he loved, 
and for the friends he served, who have 

RAISED these STONES, A. D. 1 858. 

Obiit Junii 28, 1855.' 

"The heather is very rich ail round here. We got out 
and went into it (the Memorial), and there is a very fine view 
looking up Dunrobin Glen and over the sea, and Birk Head, 
which is the extreme point of land which runs into the sea. 
You also get a very pretty glimpse of the Castle at the end of 
a path cut through the wood." 

The day after, the Queen laid the foundation stone of another 
memorial, which stands near the Castle, and which had been 
raised by the contributions of the people of Sutherland to my 
mother, and to her beloved memory. 

"At twenty-five minutes past twelve," writes the Queen 
on September 9th, "1 started with the two children and Annie 
for the laying of the first stone of the Memorial to be raised by 
the clansmen and servants to the memory of my dear Duchess 
of Sutherland, who was adored in Sutherland. . . . We got 
out, and 1 went up on a platform, which was covered over and 
close to the stone. . . . Mr. Joass, the minister there, offered 
up a short prayer, and after it presented (but did not read) the 
Address. 1 then answered what 1 had thought over, but spoke 
without reading : ' It gives me great pleasure to testify on this 
occasion my love and esteem for the dear Duchess, my valued 
friend, with whose children 1 am happy to be now staying, and 
I wish also to express my warm thanks for the loyal and hearty 



234 



Bunrobin Castle 



welcome I have met with in Sutherland ! ' This made me very 
nervous, but it was said without hesitating. Then the usual 

ceremony of 
: spreading the 
mortar and .of 
striking the stone 
with a mallet was 
gone through. 
The Duke gave 
me a drawing of 
the intended Me- 
morial, which is 
to be an Eleanor 
Cross, with a 
bust of the dear 
Duchess, and a 
medal of her 
which Ronald 
Cower had 
struck." - 

At a reception 
that afternoon 
in the Castle the 
Queen writes : 





DUCHESS HARRIET'S MEMORIAL, DUNROBIN, OF WHICH THE FOUNDA- 
TION STONE WAS LAID BY THE QUEEN 



"The Duke 
presented some 
people to me ; amongst others a very old lady, Mrs. Hounston 
by name, who is between eighty and ninety, and was a great 
friend of the dear Duchess and of the Duchess of Norfolk. She 
was quite overcome, and said, ' Is that my dear Queen,' and tak- 
ing the Duke's hand, ' and my darling Dukee ? ' " 

Of course the Queen was shown the Museum, formerly the 



H)unrobin Castle 



235 



old drinking-hoLise, in the Castle garden. Of it Her Majesty 
writes as follows : — 

" At a quarter to eleven walked with Jane Churchill and the 
Duke down to 
the small Mu- 
seum in the Gar- 
den, which is 
very nicely ar- 
ranged, and 
where there is 
a very interesting 
collection of Cel- 
tic orn am ents, 
some of which 
are quite perfect, 
and have been 
very well imi- 
tated, and of all 
sorts of odd and 
curious Celtic re- 
mains, weapons, 
utensils, etc., and 
a very fine large collection of all the birds found at or near Dun- 
robin. Mr. Joass, the minister, was there to explain everything 
to us." 

No one would ''explain" the contents of the Dunrobin 
Museum to the Queen better than Mr. Joass ; and it is owing 
to his great knowledge of early Scottish antiquities, and to his 
high artistic skill, that the Museum has now become one of the 
most complete and interesting in the North. Mr. Joass informs 
me that among the contents of this Museum, besides the ordinary 
types of Hint and bronze implements from the district, which is 




HARRIET, SECOND DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND 

iBUST By MATHEW NOBLE) 



236 Dunrobin Cattle 

rich ill the former, the collection boasts of three bronzes whicli 
are of ,<j^rent rnrity ; the one bein.i? the only known British ex- 
ample of an anvil of the bronze period, and the other a swivel 
which, as far as yet ascertained, is uniqne. 

There are no very remarkable works of art at Dnnrobin : 
a few interesting' family portraits — that of Farl William, by Allan 
Ramsay, to which I have alluded previously, being the most 
valuable. In the Library is the so-called "Orkney" portrait of 
Mary, Oueen of Scots, which is traditionally supposed to have 
belonged to her illegitimate brother, created Earl of Orkney. 
The face is a lovely one, and 1 wish 1 could take it on faith that 
this is a genuine likeness of Scotland's hapless Queen ; but 
although such good authorities as Sir J. W. Gordon, Laing the 
historian, and Woodburn of the Art Gallery all believed in the 
genuineness of this portrait, I cannot. It is evidently a painting 
of the time of Gharles 11. : the style of the painting betrays it. 
in this Library are three genuine and interesting portraits : one 
of Sir Robert Gordon, the family historian in the days of Mary ; 
a circular portrait on panel of old George Buchanan, the terrible 
old Scotch pedagogue and the tutor of that king of pedagogues, 
James I. ; and a portrait of Daniel Defoe, who came up as far 
north as Dnnrobin when he had been sent to Scotland by 
Harvey on a secret mission relating to the Union. 

The old Castle has some quaint passages and rooms ai]d 
winding stairs in it. The most interesting is called the Cj'omartie 
Room, because Lord Cromartie is said to have been found hidden 
there in i74(). It is a delightful chamber with a turret and 
beautiful views over the hills, woods, and sea. 

To describe the charm of Dnnrobin is not merely difficult, 
but impossible, and 1 beg my readers to excuse me the attempt ; 
but 1 think the beautiful photographs which have been repro- 
duced in these pages, the originals of which were taken by Mr. 




237 



238 



H)unrobin Castle 



Dixon of Golspie,— who is a true artist, besides being a most 
worthy postmaster, — will give a very fair idea of the beauty of 
Dunrobin, its Castle, and its gardens. 

Many years ago appeared in the Atlantic Monthly an article 
from the pen of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, entitled "Tribute 

of a Loving 
Friend to the 
Memory of a 
Noble Wo- 
man," in 
which the au- 
thoress of Un- 
cle To ni ' s 
Cabin pays a 
charming trib- 
ute to the 
memory of 
her friend, my 
mother, whom 
she visited in 
the year i8s6 
at Dunrobin- 
1 think the 
following pas- 
sages from 
that article are 
very germane ^ 

to an account of Dunrobin, and although somewhat long 1 shall 
quote some of them. That Mrs. Stowe thoroughly appreciated 
my parents and their love and care for their tenants and de- 
pendants in Sutherland, is clearly shown in the following record 
she has left of this visit to Dunrobin. 




MARY STUART 

FROM THE ORKNEY PICTURE AT DUNROBIN 



Bunrobin Castle 239 

"The writer once spent a pleasant day with the Duke and 
Duchess in riding [for 'riding' read 'driving'] over their estates, 
and viewing the various improvements they were planning for 
their people. The sensitiveness which the Duke seemed to 
exhibit to the good or ill fortune of his poorer tenants was quite 
touching. It had been a very wet season, and when the Duke 
passed a little patch of wheat, just reaped, and lying exposed 
to the rain, it really seemed to give him more pain than any- 
thing which could have touched himself. Whatever the tempta- 
tions of rank and station may be to men who look upon them 
in a different way, it is certain that, to the Duke, life was one 
long practice of the duties of fatherly consideration for others." 

And here are two pretty traits recorded by Mrs. Stowe of my 
mother's unaffected thoughtfulness and kindness : 

"One instance of her thoughtfulness is worth mentioning 
here. In a party that arrived at Dunrobin Castle one evening, 
were two young American girls, who never had been in society 
in their own country. As the party arrived late, they were not 
dressed in season, when the brilliant dinner-company assembled 
in the drawing-room. The Duchess herself, however, attended 
these guests to their rooms, and saw to their comfort ; and, 
appreciating the natural diffidence of young persons, she bade 
them not give themselves any uneasiness, as she would send 
after them in time for dinner. After a little while, instead of 
sending a servant to convey them to the drawing-room, she 
came herself to their apartments, and said, graciously, ' I hope 
I have not kept you waiting' ; and, taking a hand of each, with 
motherly tenderness she led them with her into the drawing- 
room. On another occasion, an American lady was riding 
[driving] out with her, and seemed particularly struck with the 
variety and beauty of the heather, which fringed the path, and 
made many inquiries about . it. On returning from the drive. 



240 



Bunrobin dastle 



while this lady was dressing for dinner, a basket was brought 
to her apartment, in which every species of heather known in 
Scotland was represented — each kind with a neat label affixed 

-- to it, giving its 
botanical name. 
That evening the 
floral ornaments 
of the dining- 
table were all 
of heather — the 
centre-piece be- 
ing a beautiful 
statuette of High- 
land Mary ; and 
the Duchess 
wore heather for 
her headdress, 
saying to her 
friend : ' You see 
what pleasure it 
gives us Scotch 
people to have 
our native pro- 
ductions appre- 
ciated.' The only 
sense in which 
the Duchess could be said to be a creative artist was in the 
embellishment of every dwelling-place she inhabited, in which 
artists, architects, and landscape gardeners carried out her poetic 
conceptions, and gave expression to her exquisite taste. 

"The Duchess was never insensible to the poetry of the 
life she was living. The romantic Castle by the sea had its 




STATUE BY NOBLE OF THE SECOND DUKE, AT DUNROBIN 




241 



242 



Dunrobin Caetle 



charm for her, and she enriched its architecture and arranged 
its apartments with many graceful suggestions. The boudoir, 
where we assembled in the morning, was lined with sea-green 
satin, and the cornices of the curtains were of white enamelled 
shells and coral. The tables and furniture of the room were 

adorned with 
shells and coral ; 
even the small 
mouldings were 
wrought in the 
f r m of s e a - 
shells. Nothing 
could be thought 
of more quaintly- 
beautiful than the 
terraced walks, 
the magnificent 
sta i rcases, the 
lovely gardens 
with their fount- 
ains and their 
flowers, that sur- 
round this Castle. 
With the warm 
inspiration of the 
Duchess's lovely 
and life-giving presence, Dunrobin seems to us like a beautiful 
dream. And though the rose of England is now faded, though 
leaf by leaf dropped from it in that long and weary trial of 
debility and sickness which must end the most prosperous life, 
yet it is comforting to think that the noblest and sweetest part 
of what gave the charm there is immortal. 




GARDENS AT DUNROBIN 



S)unrobin Castle 243 

"Patient continuation in well-doing was the great effort and 
end of her own life and her husband's. And of all that they 
possessed, this patient continuance is the only thing that retains 
permanent value in the eyes of God and man ! " 

The Gardens of Dunrobin, we have seen, were beautiful 
as far back as the days of Princess Margaret ; Sir Robert Gordon, 
in his history of the House of Sutherland, written during the 
reign of great Elizabeth, alludes to these in his quaint manner. 
He describes the "fair orchards, wher ther be pleasant gardens, 
planted with all kynds of froots, hearbs, and floers, used in this 
kingdome, and abundance of good saphron, tobacco, and rose- 
marie. The froot heir," he adds, "is excellent, chiefly the pears 
and cherries." 

The head gardener at Dunrobin, Mr. Melville, has given me a 
list of some of the rare plants that flourish in the Gardens at 
Dunrobin, which I append to these notes. He writes : 

"Some of them stand the winter here, which succumb much 
farther south. I do not remember registering more than 19 
degrees of frost here, and that only very rarely ; 10 to 15 degrees 
is about the most usually registered in winter." 

Indeed, a very favoured place is Dunrobin, and whether 
regarded from the extreme antiquity of its Castle, or its beauty of 
situation and surroundings, 1 know not any other place which 
combines such beauty as does this old seat of my Northern race, 

LIST OF RARE PLANTS IN THE GARDENS AT DUNROBIN. 

Aralia siehohiii, large-leaved shrubby plant, often grown under glass. 
A large plant has grown out of doors, without protection of any kind, in the 
kitchen garden, more than twelve years, and is at present time in good health. 

Phormium tenax (the New Zealand Flax). This plant is often grown in- 
doors farther south as a decorative plant. A large plant has grown in the 
kitchen garden over a dozen years, and is at the present time healthy and strong. 
This has flowered some three times since planted out. It bears from two to 



244 2)unrobiii Caetic 

three flowering stems, about ten to twelve feet high, with a number of brownish 
red tlowers. 

Salisbiiria adiantifoUa (the Maidenhair Tree). A small tree of this has 
stood some ten years ; it is healthy, but does not add much to its height. 

Fuschia Riccartoiiii does well here, and is used in masses in tlower-beds ; 
it is usually cut down every yeat", but flowers well in summer, on the young 
shoots thrown up each year. Occasionally in mild winters it stands two or 
three seasons without being cut down. When planted against walls in 
sheltered positions, it attains considerable size, and tlowers freely. One old 
plant on the house at Rhives is probably from thirty to forty years old. 

Anindo coiispiciia. A grass-like Pampas Grass, but flowers or throws up 
spikes in summer, instead of late autumn. Large masses of this do well here 
round the fountains in the flower garden. Some seasons each plant has had 
from sixty to a hundred spikes or plumes, each six to ten feet long. 

Escalloiiia rubra, a good wall plant with dark, glossy leaves, thrives well at 
Dunrobin. 

Bamboos are being tried, but though 1 am quite sure they will succeed, yet 
they have not been tested long enough to say much about them. 

Some of the new Japanese Acer'; were planted last year, and appear to have 
stood the winter well, notably Acer sangiiinea. Acer negundo variegata has 
been grown here a good many years. 

Priiims p/ssardii. Laurus nobilis (sweet bay), Cvtisiis albns. and Aiidre- 
aniis, Ampelopsis Veitchii, Dimorphanthus Mandschuricus, succeed very well. 

Veronica Andersonii, a climbing flowering shrub, has stood a great many 
years planted on a south wall, and flowers freely in autumn. 



Stoneleigb anb its flDemories 



245 



STONELEIQH ABBEY AND THE AVON, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST 

STONELEIGH AND ITS MEMORIES 

BY THE HONOURABLE MARY CORDELIA LEIGH 

IN ancient days, when the great Forest of Arden extended 
over Warwickshire, one of the few early Saxon settlements 
in the vale of Avon was Stoneleigh, Stonele,— or " Stanlei," 
as it is called in Domesday Book. 

Till the reign of Henry II. Stanlei was in the hands of the 
king, who, as Sir William Dugdale tells us, "had feeding for 
2000 Hogs " in its woods. Each of the king's tenants, or soke- 
men, held "i yd. land," paying a yearly rent of a penny an acre, 
and " doing his suit at the King's Court," held every three weeks 
on a little hill near the village of Stoneleigh, which to this day 
is called Motstow Hill, from the word mote = pleadings. 

The "customs" concerning these sokemen were varied and 

quaint. On a sokeman's death, his horse, harness, and arms, 

and his best beast were to be given up to the king. Sokemen 

were allowed "estovers," i.e., the privilege of taking wood in 

the outwoods, by the oversight of the foresters, for "housebote, 

247 



248 Stoncleiob ant) its flDemorics 

heybote, and firebote," i.e., the repair of houses and hedges, and 
the keeping up of the hearth fire; and "freedom of pannage" 
(viz., pasture) "for their own Hogs ; but for such Hogs as they 
did buy after the Nativity of St. John Baptist, to give pannage." 

The Lord's inferior tenants were ordered to " come with there 
sykeles to the Bedrepe of the lorde and reype hys corne " ; and 
amongst other directions (including orders to the sokemen to 
" ryde with their rodds or wands " to oversee the reapers) it is 
further commanded, "That they should be in the field at Sun- 
rising, and work till Sunset, not sitting down to breakfast, but 
each of them eating what he brought with him, as they went 
up and down the lands to their work ; and after breakfast to sit 
down once before dinner, the lord finding them drink ; but at 
Noon, both they and the sokemen to have meat and drink 
provided by the lord." 

"That the Reapers should eat by themselves, every one 
having a lyttell wheyton loofe, iiij egges, and pottage : viz., 
grewell, without fiesh boy led in it, except the lord would afford 
them other, with Cheese and Beer sufficient ; and after dinner 
one sitting down with bread and beer, but the sokemen them- 
selves to be served with better dyet, according to their degrees." 

Some of the " liberties" of the lord of the manor were as 
follows : 

"The lorde of the man*" of Stoneley hath thrs libties that is 
to wytte Waren " (viz., the right of hunting rabbits and hares, 
etc.,) " infange ne thef outfange ne thef weyved strayed" (viz., 
taking or catching thieves within his own fee and judging them 
in his own court, and seizing goods stolen and waved or left by 
the felon on being pursued), "the catall of fugitive felons the 
coke stole : pyllery psecabor soks saks Toll Tem " (viz., power 
of administering justice, exemption from paying dues, the right 
to judge bondmen and villeins with their children and goods in 



Stoneleiob an& Its flDeniorics 249 

his court), " Amerciamets of murdres and emendyg of Bred and 
Ale frayes and of marketts and the fayres in Stonley." 

The following quaint old rhymes refer to a " Forest " which 
included, in the technical sense, a Chase (unenclosed), a Park 
(enclosed) and a free warren : 

I, Edward, King 
Have given of my forest the keeping 
To Randolph Peperking and to his kindling, 
With hart and hind, doe and buck. 
Hare and fox, cat and brock. 
Wild fowl with his flock, 
Partridge, pheasant hen and pheasant cock, etc. 

Henry 11., in the first year of his reign, granted Stonele to 
a body of Cistercian monks, in exchange for Radmore in ''the 
forest of Canock " — or Cannock Chase, Staffordshire — which 
they had found an unpleasant place of residence owing to the 
troublesome visits of the thieving foresters. These monks first 
settled at a house in the neighbourhood of Stonele called " Crule- 
field," now Cryheld, a name ascribed by local tradition to the 
cries of the children slain by a "foreign Earl," who was a great 
robber, and infested the country, and who lived here till removed 
by the King's orders to make room for the more peaceable monks. 
But the monks, suffering in their turn from the close proximity 
of the highways, removed from Crulefield, and built their abbey 
at Stonele. In the reign of Edward I., it was certified that the 
village of Crulefield "paid a stone of wax yearly for the main- 
tenance of the lights in Stoneley Abbey burning before the image 
of the blessed Virgin." 

Some local names carry us back to the days of the monks : 
e.g., a group of neighbouring cottages, known as " Pipe's Mill," 
remind us of Thomas de Pipe, abbot in the time of Edward III., 
who compiled a valuable " Leiger Book," containing information 



2 so 



StoneleiGb ant) its fIDemories 



■Ft 



relating, not only to the abbey itself, but also to various historical 
events of general interest. 

Among the other inhabitants of Stonele at the time the 
monastery was founded were four " Bondslaves," each of whom 

in return for " i mess, 
and I quatroneof land ■' 
m ade gallows and 
hanged thieves, though 
how often these hang- 
men's services were 
called into requisition 
is not recorded ; ap- 
parently the manage- 
ment of the gallows 
did not take up all their 
time, as they were also 
expected to plough and 
reap twice a year, make 
the lord's malt, and do 
other servile work. 
Each wore a "red 
clout," as a badge, between his shoulders. 

The monks of Stonele did not always lead lives of uninter- 
rupted peace. The ninth abbot, William de Gyldeford, was a man 
of such great learning that he was made penitentiary to Pandulph, 
the Pope's legate, and afterwards was sent as legate himself to 
Wales. A shepherd of the monastery having fought a duel and 
hanged a thief who had stolen the monk's cattle, was supported 
by the superior, whereupon some influential abbots and others, 
who through jealousy had become William's enemies, caused him 
to be deposed. 

Not long afterwards many of the monks grew unruly and 




ANCIENT DOORWAY AND STAIRCASE IN THE OLD ABBEY 



Stoneleigb an& its nDenioriee 



25: 



took to a wandering life ; whereupon King Henry 111., by letter, 
directed all sheriffs and other officers to apprehend and deliver 
them up to the abbot for chastisement wherever found. 

A very young, but "sage and prudent" abbot, Robert de 
Hockele, who died in 1149, repaired and beautified the Church 
of the Abbey, of which very few traces are now to be found ; but, 
as Dugdale says, "the 
Gatehouse, a fair and 
strong building, a n d 
also one of his works, 
still standeth " ; and 
over the gateway we 
notice the large stone 
escutcheon bearing the 
arms of Henry II., 
placed there by Robert 
in memory of the 
founder of Stonele 
Abbey. 

This Gatehouse 
may have been in- 
tended as a place of re- 
ception for guests, and 
an eleemosynary for 

distribution of alms. In an ancient wooden bench within the 
gateway are ten curious circular holes, the original use of which 
is uncertain ; but they were possibly destined in later warlike 
days to hold lances or other weapons. 

The Church, as already stated, is no more ; though some 
encaustic tiles, which probably came from the Church, form part 
of an old pavement in the Abbey. A room thought to be the 
ancient Chapter-house still exists, with a massive pillar in the 




GABLES OF THE OLD ABBEY 



254 



Stoneleiob an& its flDcmories 



centre. A long chamber with a groined roof, for many years 
used as a brew-house, is supposed to have been a crypt under 
the abbot's lodging. This brew-house, by the way, is intro- 
duced into a picture 
at Stoneleigh, in which 
a Royalist butler and 
brewer are represented 
endeavouring to per- 
suade a Roundhead 
baker to drink to the 
Pretender's health. 

Beautiful specimens 
of Norman arches and 
pillars still remain, both 
in the Abbey, and in the 
parish church of Stone- 
leigh, where may be 
seen a very fine chancel 
arch of i i6o and a late 
Norman door. Various 
parts of the existing 
Abbey date from the reigns of Henry 11., Edward 111., James I., 
and Charles 11. 

An inner courtyard, situated between the ancient Abbey and 
the more modern building, appears to have formed part of the 
burying-ground of the monks. A few years ago three skeletons 
were unearthed here ; as there were no traces of coffins, and no 
chalice or paten was found buried with them, it is supposed that 
they were the remains of lay or serving brothers, and not of 
priests or actual monks. They were reinterred in the same place, 
and it is to be hoped that their ghosts will never disturb the 
slumbers of the Abbey's present inhabitants. 




THE ABBEY FROM THE GARDEN 




255 



256 



StoneleiGb ant) its fIDemoiies 



Every Maundy Thursday, "at the washing of the feet" 
of the poor, the monks distributed in charity "8 quarters of Rye 
made in bread at 55. the quarter, 3 quarters of Malt in beer at 45. 
the quarter, and 200 Herings at 2od. the Hundred." 

Amongst other curious concessions to the monks, it is 
recorded that, in the reign of Edward IV., two owners of land 
in the neighbouring village of Ashow had licence to grant, inter 
alia, "XXs., a pound of Pepper, and a red rose yearly rent, with 




THE ABBEY AND THE RIVER AVON 



half the fishing in Avon, to the monks of Stoneley, for ever." 
It is interesting to note that the little village, now hardly boasting 
more than a hundred and fifty inhabitants, which was thus called 
upon for its yearly rose, is in these days, in summer, a real 
garden of flowers. Another curious though more modern custom 
is registered in the parish accounts here : from 182s to 1856 the 
rector and churchwardens were in the habit of paying fourpence 
for every dozen of sparrows brought to them by the inhabitants 
of the neighbourhood. 

At the time when the lesser monasteries were dissolved by 



Stoncleiob ant) its flDemorice 257 

Henry VIII., the clear yearly value of Stonele being less than 
£200, this monastery was suppressed, and the monks were sent 
away to the larger undissolved religious houses, the Abbot, 
Thomas Tutbury, receiving a pension of £2} a year. 

Henry granted the Abbey to his brother-in-law Charles 
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, whose sons dying childless, it passed 
to their cousin, William Cavendish, who sold it to Sir Thomas 
Leigh. Thomas Leigh, the younger son of an old Cheshire 
family, having been the clever and diligent apprentice of a rich 
merchant and knight-alderman of London, Sir Rowland Hill, was 
employed as his " Factor beyond sea," and pleased him so well 
that Sir Rowland bestowed on him the hand of his niece Alice 
Barker, for whom the merchant had a great affection. Sir Thomas 
Leigh, having thus become a rich man, bought the old Abbey 
and lands of Stoneley, which remained in the possession of his 
descendants, and gradually acquired the name of Stoneleigh. 
He was Lord Mayor of London at the coronation of Queen 
Elizabeth, and rode before Her Majesty at her entry into the 
city to be proclaimed at St. Paul's. His wife. Dame Alice, lived 
to see her children's children to the fourth generation, and 
founded a "hospital," or almshouses for five poor men and five 
poor women, which exists to this day in the village of Stoneleigh. 

The great-grandson of Sir Thomas, another Sir Thomas 
Leigh, whose portrait is to be seen at the Abbey, was reputed 
a giant ; and it is told of him, though with what truth we know 
not, that on one occasion, finding a man riding a donkey tres- 
passing within his park, he lifted up man and beast and threw 
them over the gates. 

This giant was created a baron by Charles 1. That ill-fated 
monarch, on his v/ay to Nottingham, attended by six thousand 
horse, found the gates of Coventry closed, and was received at 
Stoneleigh by his loyal subject Sir Thomas, where he met with 



-D< 



Stonelciob anD its fIDcmorics 



'' right plenteous and hospitable entertainment, while the Cava- 
leers made the poore Country mens houses their Innes, and there 
they made their own welcome taking what they pleased." 

A bronze medal with a head of Charles 1. is preserved at 
Stoneleigh, doubtless presented to his host by the King. -And 
a portrait of King Charles, attributed by experts to Van Dyck, 
concealed beneath a painting of flowers, was discovered in recent 
times by Sir George Beaumont, who noticed the outline of an 



STONELEIGH ABBEY," FROM AN OLD PICTURE 



eye peering through the leaves and petals, and suggested that 
the outer covering of flowers should be cleaned away. 

Over two hundred years later than this visit of King Charles, 
Stoneleigh opened wide its portals, under far different conditions, 
to another royal visitor ; but no soldiers in their buff jerkins and 
armed with pikes and swords were needed then to guard their 
monarch's person with jealous care. On the evening of June 14, 
1858, a vast concourse of people, who had assembled from every 
side, broke out spontaneously and with one voice into "God 
save the Queen," when our late beloved sovereign, accompanied 
by the Prince Consort, and leaning on the arm of Lord Leigh, 




OLD ABBEY— NORTH-WEST CORNER-SEEN FROM THE COURTYARD 



259 



26o Stoneleiob anb its nDemonea 

came out on to the garden terrace and appeared in their midst 
to acknowledge with grace and dignity the greetings of her loyal 
subjects. 

In the same year (1643) that Sir Thomas Leigh was created 
a baron, the vicar of Stoneleigh was one Sunday preaching on 
the duty of relieving the poor, especially as they could not " in 
those days goe abroad to beg of others," when a trooper of 
Serjeant Pouts with two other young men came to the church 
door and discharged a pistol. They then went in and listened to 
a portion of the sermon, by which, however, they did not appear 
to be much edified, as the trooper interrupted the preacher by 
telling him he "lyed," and he and his two friends proceeded 
to enforce the remark by going outside and firing their pistol 
against the window near the pulpit, "to the great affryhtment 
of all the people." 

On an outer wall of this church is the following curious 
inscription to one who seems to have been very liberal at 
another's expense : 

TO THE MEMORY OF HUMPHREY HOVV^E, 

Porter to the R' Hon^'^ The Ld. Leigh. 

Obiit 6 Febr. An D^iii 1688. /Etat 63. 
Here Lyes a faithfull Friend unto the Poore, 
Who dealt large Alms out of his LordP= Store. 
Weepe not Poor People, Tho' the Servant's Dead, 
The Lord himselfe will give you Daily Breade. 
If Markets rise, Raile Not against their Rates, 
The Price is stil the same at StoneLeigh Gates. 

A granddaughter of the first Sir Thomas Leigh, Alice by 
name, was married to Sir Robert Dudley, son of the famous 
Leicester who entertained Queen Elizabeth right royally at his 
princely Castle of Kenilworth. It is curious to note in passing 
that, before the Conquest, Kenilworth "was a member of 



Stoncleigb anb its fiDemorics 



261 



Stoneley, being ancient demesn of the Crown ; and had, within 
the precincts thereof, a Castle situat upon the banks of Avon, in 
the woods opposite to Stoneleigh Abbey, which Castle was de- 
molished in those turbulent times of warr betwixt King Edmund 
and Canutus the Dane." 

Sir Robert Dudley, a few years after his marriage, left Eng- 
land for Italy, accompanied, not by his wife, but by a less 
estimable if more enterprising lady in the very beautiful person 
of Elizabeth Southwell, "who went with him into Italy in the 




THE ABBEY AND GARDEN 



habit of a Page and there married him ! " He himself was strong 
and handsome, skilled in mathematics, and especially in naviga- 
tion, on which subject he wrote a learned book entitled Arcano 
del Mare, profusely illustrated with plans and charts which are 
still to be seen in fresco on the walls of a room in the Palazzo 
Vecchio at Florence. He had also a great knowledge of chem- 
istry, and invented some deadly poisons. His talents won him 
the friendship of the Duke of Tuscany, who allowed him a yearly 
stipend of about a thousand pounds ; and also of the Emperor 
Ferdinand of Austria, who bestowed on him the title of Duke of 
"Northumberland. He built himself a palace at Florence, which 
still exists, and died in 1649. 



262 Stoncleigb ant) its fIDemones 

Meanwhile Alice, whom he had deserted, remained at home, 
devoting herself to charity and widely spread good deeds ; and 
being created by Charles I. duchess in her own right, was known 
as Alice Duchess Dudley. She survived her affliction well, for 
she lived to the age of ninety. Her portrait, taken when she was 
an old lady, is preserved at Stoneleigh, her little, thin, sharp- 
featured countenance appearing out of the midst of the enormous 
ruff of the period, and surrounded by a white fluted cap under 
a black hood. She died in her house near St. Giles's Church 
in London, to which, amongst many other churches, she left 
large sums of money and various gifts, including "a neat pair 
of organs, v/ith a case richly gilded," and "the great bell in the 
steeple, which, as oft as it ringeth, soundeth her praise." She 
also left a sum of money to the sexton of St. Giles's to " toll the 
Great Bell, when the prisoners condemned to die shall be passing 
by, and to ring out after they shall be executed." These gifts, 
to various churches Duchess Dudley left on condition that her 
name should be mentioned in the sermon preached on Whit 
Sunday, a custom which to this day is faithfully observed by the 
vicar of Stoneleigh. This good old lady's funeral must have 
given universal satisfaction, for she directed that her body should 
be taken from London to Stoneleigh for burial, and bequeathed 
"to fourscore and ten Widows (according to the Number of the 
Years she lived) to each one a Gown and fair white Kerchief 
to attend the Hearse wherein her Body was carried, and one 
shilling a piece for their Dinner after that Solemnity was per- 
formed, which was on the sixteenth day of March, i668. She ap- 
pointed five pounds to be given to every Place or Town where her 
Corps should rest. — She ordered that sixpence should be given 
to every poor body that should meet her Corps on the road." 

Dr. Boreham, the Rector of St. Giles's, published a list of 
her charities in a little panegyric entitled, A Mirrour of Christ- 




I^M 






STARE BRIDGE, STONELEIQH DEER PARK 



263 



264 



StonclciGb ant) its flDcmories 



ianity and a Miracle of Charity, or a true and exact Narrative 
of the Life and Death of the most virtuous Lady Alice Dutchess 
Duddeley. A marble monument in Stoneleigh Church to Duchess 
Dudley and her unmarried daughter Alice was the work of 
Nicholas Stone, master-mason to Charles 1., who engaged him 
— ^_.-._ — ...,^^-. ^Q^ ^|-,g building and reparation of 

t Windsor Castle, at the fee of twelve 

pence a day. 

A few of the largest rooms in 
the old Abbey have little inner 
chambers, supposed to have been 
used as ''powdering closets," 
when the monks of Stoneleigh 
gave place to "fair women and 
brave men." The visitor's inter- 
est is also aroused by a curious 
figure painted on a wooden panel. 
It is known as " the pretty house- 
maid." The legend tells how a 
beautiful housemaid of long ago 
had clad herself in fair array, in a 
pale plum-coloured laced bodice, 
blue skirt, lace cap and ruffles, bracelets and ring, in prepara- 
tion for the Coventry fair, when the housekeeper indignantly 
commanded her to don her long apron, take her broom and 
sweep the floor ; the Lord Leigh of the time, beholding her 
thus, was so struck by her beauty that he ordered that she 
should be painted. Chancellor Ferguson of Carlisle, who has 
published a pamphlet on Picture-Board Dummies, in which he 
describes this figure and others like it, conjectures that it is 
really that of a Flemish gentlewoman masquerading as a house- 
maid, of the date 16 10 to 1620. 




THE PRETTY HOUSEMAID" 



StoneleiGb an& its flDcmories 



265 



The visitor who, on antiquarian researches intent, approaches 
Stoneleigh Abbey from its west side, is surprised to find himself 
confronted by a comparatively modern house, with its Italian 
gardens sloping down on the south side to the banks of Shake- 
speare's Avon. But having passed through Robert de Hockele's 
Gateway, already men- 
tioned, he soon discov- 
ers the old Abbey con- 
cealed behind the new 
building erected in Ital- 
ian style and attached to 
the ancient house by Ed- 
ward Lord Leigh in 1720. 

There is a persistent 
rumour that at one per- 
iod of his existence, which 
no doubt included certain 
private visits to England, 
the Young Pretender was 
a visitor at Stoneleigh Ab- 
bey. Indeed, a stranger 
correspondent, a clergy- 
man of the Church of 

England, writing to the owner some years ago, referred to the fact 
as one about which there was no question : when invited to quote 
his authority he was unprepared to give any, excepting that it was 
held to be an acknowledged circumstance when his grandfather 
was Rector of a certain adjoining parish which the Prince is said 
to have visited. Now, dim rumour from quite another source 
has it that this same parish was at one moment the haunt of 
Charles Edward at the period when he was on a visit to Stone- 
leigh, and that a village artist from that place was then 








OLD AND NEW ABBEY 



266 



Stoneleiob aiiD its flDcmoncs 



summoned to the Abbey to take the Prince's portrait which now 
hangs there, with the long face of his mother, the Princess 
Clementina Sobieski, fully repeated. As, however, there are 
replicas of the portrait, this portion of the legend must be re- 
garded as groundless, but it was held as an article of faith some 
fifty years ago. Who was the distinguished Royalist, sent away 
inside a beer barrel in a cart to Coventry next morning after 

visiting Stoneleigh one 

-" ^^" ■ rx night? tradition says 

^_^,' not. But the old Lords 

of Leigh always passed 
their wine glasses over 
the water. 

Despite their Jacobite 
tendencies, it is evident 
that the family, like many 
others, were inclined to 
accept Queen Anne as a 
Stewart, and in 1702 the 
Lord Leigh of that date 
went up from Stoneleigh 
to London to be present 
at her coronation ; his journey (now accomplished by train in 
two hours and a half) occupied eight days ; prayers were offered 
up in Stoneleigh Church for his safety; and a bill for " lifting 
his lordship's carriage out of the ruts " is preserved among the 
family archives. Another journey of a somewhat different na- 
ture, taken by one of the family, has not been forgotten. The 
grandmother of the present owner of Stoneleigh was enjoying a 
country drive on a winter day, the ground being many feet 
thick in snow, when she felt the carriage give an alarming 
jerk ; and upon her anxiously inquiring the cause, " Don't be 




ASHOW CHURCH 




NORTH LODGE," STONELEIQH DEER PARK 



267 



268 Stoneleiab ant) its flDcmoriee 

frightened, ma'am," the coachman answered reassuringly ; "it is 
only a wall we have driven over ! " 

One of the beauties of Stoneleigh is its Deer Park, situated 
at a short distance from the house. Stare Bridge in the Park, 
was kept in repair by the monks. Had we, like Shakespeare's 
exiles of the Forest of Arden, the power of finding "tongues in 
trees," we might gather from Stoneleigh's famous oaks many 
other memories worth recording. What tales might they not 
whisper to us of the jovial monks, and gallant knights, of the 
merry retainers of the barons of Stoneleigh who chased the deer 
beneath their branches, or even, it may be, of the "bard of 
Avon " himself, who, tradition has it, composed some of his 
immortal plays in the vicinity of what is still known as " Shake- 
speare's Oak ! " Another famous tree, of which alas ! only the 
stump remains, is called the " Gospel Oak," since the Gospel, 
so it is said, was preached under its branches. What changes 
have these veteran oaks seen, from the time when some of their 
forest companions were felled to make room for the monastery, 
then building in Echels Wood, to the days of the Georges, 
when, as represented in a quaint old painting still preserved in 
the deer-keeper's lodge, Lord Leigh in mulberry-coloured coat 
and perruke and three-cornered hat drove through his domain 
in a coach-and-six ! But here we close the record in which we 
have endeavoured to bring together, though we fear very im- 
perfectly, a few of the most memorable events in the history 
of Stoneleigh. 



2)alkeitb Ipalace 



269 




FRONT V:EW of DALKEITH PALACE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY W. MITCHELL, DALKEITH 



DALKEITH PALACE 



BY LORD HENRY SCOTT 



DALKEITH House, or Dalkeith Palace, the name by which 
it is universally called by the inhabitants of the district, 
stands on a steep rock, now overgrown by trees and 
underwood, on the right bank of the river North Esk. 

Though the position of the house is charmingly sheltered, 
a lovely view can be obtained from the upper windows. Look- 
ing up the valley, one sees the old town of Dalkeith, with its 
picturesque red roofs intermingled with spires of churches of 
every denomination, forming a pleasing foreground to the distant 
Pentlands, with their rugged peaks mounting guard opposite the 
more undulating Moorfoots. To the north, Arthur's Seat, the 
watchtower of the ancient capital of Scotland, is close at hand, 



271 



2 72 Ball^eitb palace 

whilst towards the east is seen the ridge on which was fought 
the Battle of Carberry. 

The Park itself comprises some thousand acres. Evergreens 
grow within it to an unusual size, especially yews and hollies. 
A magnificent holly hedge, about eighty years of age and nine 
feet in height, grows up against the park wall for the distance 
of two miles, and is the admiration of many a patient traveller 
on the North British Railway. There are also some splendid 
specimens of oaks, beeches, limes, elms, sycamores, and chest- 
nuts, whilst here and there are scattered some of the largest and 
most ancient cedars and larches in Scotland. General Monk 
planted many of the trees during his residence at Dalkeith, 
including a triple avenue of limes which goes by the name of 
"General Monk's Walk," some three hundred yards in length, 
so dark in the glory of its summer foliage that timid children 
dare not pass beneath it. Tradition relates that the Duchess of 
Buccleuch and Monmouth ordered the heads of these trees to 
be cut off when she heard of her husband's execution. Some 
people even aver that Monmouth himself is to be seen pacing 
the limes in the small hours of the night. 

The two rivers. North and South Esk, which enter the Park 
from the west, form a leading feature of the place. They run al- 
most parallel for upwards of a mile, till they meet near the centre 
of the Park to unite in a larger and more stately stream. The 
scenery along both rivers is quite beautiful; the banks are steep and 
thickly wooded, the streams are deep and rapid, with many a curve 
and twist ; but, alas ! the hand of man has fouled what nature 
made so sweet ; these rivers at times appear in garbs of various 
hues according to the nature of the operations which are being 
undertaken on their upper reaches, transmitting an aroma distinctly 
unpleasing to human nostrils, but apparently much appreciated by 
the wildfowl, who frequent their waters in great numbers. 




VIEW FROM THE LIBRARY WINDOW, DALKEITH PALACE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY W. MITCHELL, DALKEITH 



273 



2 74 ©all^eitb palace 

The remains of the old Caledonian forest, the happy hunting 
grounds of the Scottish inonarchs, cover a peninsula formed by 
the two rivers just previous to their junction. This fragment 
of an ancient forest which once extended across Scotland is a 
hundred and thirty acres in extent, and entirely composed of 
self-sown oaks, some of them six hundred years old. They vary 
in shape and size to an extraordinary degree. Some of them are 
worthy monarchs of the forest, but the majority are distorted 
by age and the ungenial climate of the east of Scotland into the 
quaintest shapes. The effect, however, is extremely picturesque. 
Nothing is more fascinating than to see the deer lying peaceful 
and content on a hot summer's day amongst the bracken under 
the shade of these ancient oaks. How unconscious they seem 
of the history of the place and its associations, or that their 
forefathers were ever on the alert to elude the aim of some royal 
sportsman ! "The King's Approach" is one of the features of 
the Park : over a mile in length, beautifully designed, bounded 
on either side by a broad margin of turf, fringed with trees, it 
emerges eventually through some handsome gates on to the 
Edinburgh road. These gates would give a visitor from the 
Royal burgh of Kensington a homelike feeling ; they were copied 
from those at Holland House. 

About three hundred yards away from the house is St. 
Mary's Episcopal Chapel, erected by the late Duke of Buccleuch 
in 1845, to which a memorial chapel was added by the present 
Duke in 1887. 

No mention of Dalkeith Park is complete without reference 
to the Gardens. They have been famous for upwards of fifty 
years, during which period three noted horticulturists have ruled 
over their destinies. Though the glass houses are now old, their 
products compete most favourably with those of more modern 
ones, whilst the kitchen-garden, flower-garden, and pleasure- 




DALKEITH PALACE FROM THE EAST 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY W, MITCHELL, DALKEITH 



275 



2 76 Balkeill) palace 

grounds contain many points of interest and instruction. The 
house itself is of considerable antiquity, it was known as 
Dalkeith Castle previous to 1575. 

King David I. gave the manor of Dalkeith to William de 
Graham in the twelfth century. His successors held the castle 
for seven generations, till upon the death of John de Graham 
without issue in the middle of the fourteenth century, the 
estates passed to his elder sister Marjory, who was married 
to Sir William Douglas, the knight of Liddesdale, better known, 
perhaps, as "the Flower of Chivalry." Froissart says that he 
was for quite fifteen days the guest of Sir William Douglas. 
King David I!, granted a charter to his descendant, Sir James 
Douglas. In 1369, Sir James was created Baron Dalkeith. Lord 
Dalkeith bound himself and his heirs to pay the King "a pair 
of white gloves or a silver penny at the feast of Pentecost." It 
was this Sir James who cried out when he captured Hotspur's 
trophy that "he would set it high on the tower of his castle at 
Dalkeith." The second Lord Dalkeith married Lady Elizabeth 
Stuart, daughter of King Robert 111. James, brother to the 
murdered Earl of Douglas, plundered the town in 1452, but the 
castle held out gallantly under its governor, Patrick Cockburn. 
in 1458, James Douglas, Lord Dalkeith, was created Earl of 
Morton. In the following year he married Lady Jean Stuart, 
sister to King James II. This princess had been promised as wife 
to the Dauphin. It was probably owing to her inability to 
articulate that this wedding did not take place, as she was known 
in the neighbourhood as "Muta Domina," the dumb lady of 
Dalkeith. It was at Dalkeith on August 3, 1503, that James IV. 
first saw Princess Margaret Tudor. It is related that that mon- 
arch, "having greeted her with knightly courtesy and passed 
the day in her company, returned to his bed in Edinburgh well 
content of so fair meeting." Cardinal Beaton was confined in 




IN THE OLD CALEDONIAN FOREST 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY W. MITCHELL, DALKEITH 



277 



2 78 Dalticitb palace 

Dalkeith Castle in 1541, in consequence of his opposition to the 
marriage between Queen Mary Stuart and Edward VI. The 
victors at Pinkie captured Dalkeith Castle in 1547. In 157s, 
James, Earl of Morton, the greedy and avaricious Regent of 
Scotland, rebuilt the castle ; it had been previously nicknamed 
in the district "the lion's den." 

The new castle is described as "3. magnificent palace richly 
adorned with tapestry and pictures, titter for a king than a 
subject." Lord Morton is supposed to have concealed his hoard 
of 100,000 crowns under the castle yard. 

James VI. twice visited Dalkeith, the first time in the com- 
pany of the Duke of Lennox, through whose instrumentality the 
Regent had just been beheaded. On the second occasion, in 
1617, the parish minister addressed him a congratulatory poem 
entitled "Philomela Dalkeithensis." Fynes Moryson in 1598 
says that Anne of Denmark, "the Queene of Scots then kept the 
court (in the absence of the King) at the village of Dawkeith, 
in a pallace belonging to the Earl of Morton." 

William, Earl of Morton, Lord High Treasurer, entertained 
Charles 1. magnificently in June, 1611 ; the King was so delighted 
with the place that he would have bought it had not the Civil 
War turned his attention to other matters. In 1639, the Privy 
Council adjourned from Linlithgow to Dalkeith Palace, whither 
the Duke of Hamilton, the Royal Commissioner, conveyed the 
regalia of Scotland. The regalia was subsequently removed, 
" with all due reverence," to Edinburgh by the nobles of Scotland. 

In 1642, Dalkeith was sold to Francis, Earl of Buccleuch. It 
has since remained in the direct possession of his descendants, 
and for the past two hundred years has been their principal 
residence in Scotland. It seems strange that a family whose 
career had hitherto been entirely identified with the borders, 
should have wished to acquire an estate in the Lowlands ; no 



Balkciib palace 



279 



doubt this was done in order to obtain influence at Court, since 
the union of the two kingdoms had rendered permanent residence 
on the border no 
longer an abso- 
lute necessity. 
Francis, Earl of 
Buccleuch, who 
was greatly in- 
fluenced by his 
wife Lady Mar- 
garet Leslie, sis- 
ter to the Duke 
of Rothes, was an 
ardent adherent 
of the Royalist 
cause. Parlia- 
ment in conse- 
quence inflicted 
upon the family 
a fine of ;/^ 15,000. 

Earl Francis, 
who died in 1651, 
was succeeded 
by his elder 
daughter, Mary, 
v/ho became 
Countess of Buccleuch. She was married at the early age of 
eleven to her kinsman, Walter Scott of Highchesters. He was 
afterwards created Earl of Tarras. Countess Mary died without 
issue, and was succeeded by her sister Anne. 

With Countess Anne, who held the estates for seventy-one 
years, the history of Dalkeith is closely interwoven. King 




THE MONMOUTH CABINET 



28o S)alkeUb palace 

Charles II. selected her to be the bride of his favourite son, James, 
Duke of Monmouth, and was present at their wedding in 1663. 
They were created on their marriage Duke and Duchess of 
Buccleuch. The Duke of Monmouth, after a successful military 
career in Scotland and Holland, attempted to secure the British 
Crown upon the death of Charles II. The sequel is too well 
known to need recapitulation here : instead of gaining a crown 
the unfortunate Monmouth lost his head on the scaffold in 1685. 
In consequence of this the Monmouth titles were attainted. 
Duchess Anne, however, who had wisely kept clear of her hus- 
band's wild schemes, remained in possession of the Buccleuch 
titles. She surrendered them in 1687 and had them regranted, in 
order that there should be no doubt as to the succession. She 
was always held in the highest favour at Court, and was an inti- 
mate friend of Mary of Modena. Duchess Anne lived a consider- 
able part of her time in Newark Castle, and was the " Duchess " 
of "The Lay of the Last Minstrel." She always insisted upon 
being treated as of the blood royal, no one except a relative being 
permitted to sit in her presence. According to Johnson she was 
always served on bended knee. The Duchess was married again 
in 1688 to Lord Cornwallis. 

There were two sons of the Monmouth marriage : James, Earl 
of Dalkeith, K.T., who never succeeded to the dukedom,— he 
married Lady Henrietta Hyde, daughter of the first Earl of 
Rochester ; and Lord Henry Scott, created Earl of Deloraine, 
which latter title became extinct upon the death of the fourth Earl 
in 1807. 

Francis, Earl of Dalkeith succeeded his grandmother in 1732 
as second Duke : he married Lady Jane Douglas, daughter of 
James, Duke of Queensberry and Dover. Upon the death of 
William, Duke of Queensberry, "Old Q.," in 1810, the third 
Duke of Buccleuch, grandson of Lady Jane, succeeded to the titles 




THE LIBRARY, DALKEITH PALACE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. BALMAIN, EDINBURGH 



282 2>alkeitb palace 

and estates of the Queensberry family. In 1745, Duke Francis 
raised a regiment for the defence of Edinburgh. Prince Charles 
Edward, however, spent two nights in Dalkeith while his troops 
encamped on the banks of the Esk. 

Walter, fifth Duke, K.G., who succeeded in 1819, held the 
titles and estates for sixty-seven years. He twice had the honour 
of entertaining his sovereign at Dalkeith. In 1822, George IV. 
spent some days as his guest ; twenty years later Her Majesty 
Queen Victoria honoured him with a visit. Duke Walter, in 
company with the late Mr. Gladstone and others, was a member 
of the famous Peelite Cabinet which repealed the Corn Laws ; it 
was greatly owing to his influence that that measure passed the 
House of Lords. He died in 1884, and was succeeded by the 
present owner of Dalkeith. 

The house, as it now stands, was practically rebuilt in 1705 
by Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, who erected the 
south fafade and the two wings ; the older portion facing north, 
contains the Dining-room, Morning-room, and Duchess Anne's 
Sitting-room. The architect was Sir John Vanbrugh ; he is said 
to have copied the Palace of Loo. It is a square house with two 
projecting wings, built of plain stone, the only exterior ornamen- 
tation being four Corinthian columns. The principal character- 
istics of the house are the extraordinary thickness of the walls, 
especially in the oldest portion ; at one place there is fifteen feet 
of solid masonry. Another feature is the lavish display of mar- 
ble, of which Duchess Anne was exceptionally fond. She 
says she used it " in order to show her respect for the old castle." 
Nearly all the fireplaces are marble ; there are marble tables, 
marble frames to pictures, and marble door-frames. The ground 
floor of the house is almost entirely devoted to reception- 
rooms. 

The Carpet Hall, a long oak-panelled room, contains some 




THE GALLERY, DALKEITH PALACE 

fROM A PHO'OGRAPH BY J. BALMAIN, EDINBURGH 



283 



284 



Dameitb palace 



interesting portraits, the most noticeable of which are, "George 
IV.,'" by Sir David Wilkie ; the late Duke, presented by the offi- 
cers of the Lothian Militia ; and a life-size portrait of one Caianus, 
a Lapland giant 7 ft. 10 in. in height. 

The Centre Hall, like most of the rooms on the ground floor, 
is panelled with oak. There are some fine bits of furniture in 

this room, and a 
good number of 
family and his- 
torical portraits, 
amongst which 
are two by 
Greuze of the 
Hon. Campbell 
Scott and the fifth 
Earl of Carlisle, 
also Lucy Wal- 
ters holding a 
miniature of the 
Duke of Mon- 
mouth in her 
hand. 

The Library 
contains a fine 
collection of 
books and en- 
gravings — many of them of considerable antiquity. Dibdin speaks 
in high praise of the Library in his northern tour. Above the fire- 
place is a portrait of Henry, third Duke of Buccleuch, by Sir 
Joshua Reynolds : he is supported on either side by pictures of 
his six children by Sir William Beachey ; there is also one of his 
Duchess by Sir Thomas Lawrence. 




CHARLES, EARL OF DALKEITH, BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 

KNOWN AS "the PINK BOY" 




THE DININQ-ROOM, DALKEITH PALACE IN WHICH GENERAL MONK PLANNED 
THE RESTORATION 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. BALMAIN, EDINBURGH 



285 



286 



Balkcitb palace 



In the ante-library eight stirring battle-pieces form a perma- 
nent record of Monmouth's prowess in the field. 

The Duchess's Sitting-room, a square room in which the 
oak panelling is richly carved, remains very much as it was in 
the days of Duchess Anne. Her monogram in glass is to be 

seen over the tire- 
place. This room 
contains many 
treasures, which 
include some 
family miniatures 
and two lovely 
little buhl tables. 
Amongst the pict- 
ures there is one 
supposed to be a 
portrait of Cath- 
erine of Aragon : 
it has an inscrip- 
tion round the 
frame— "O Lord, 
Thou art my por- 
tion. 1 have de- 
termined to keepe 

LADY CAROLINE SCOTT, AFTERWARDS MARCHIONESS OF QUEENSBERRY TllV WOrd. " TWO 

BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 

small portraits of 
Francis I. of France and Eleanora of Austria attract attention, as 
they are painted on panel with a green background. The pict- 
ure of the present Duke by Ouless was presented by his friends 
in Midlothian. Beyond this is a quaint little room which was 
used by Duchess Anne as her writing closet ; the oak carving in 
this room is gilded ; the furniture came out of Whitehall Palace. 





THE MARBLE HALL, DALKEITH PALACE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. BALMAIN, EDINBURGH 



287 



288 



Balf^eitb palace 



In the Morning-room there are twenty-five views of different 
places in Italy by Guardi, built into the panel, also two fine 

pieces by Antonio 
Joli. 

The Dining- 
room is celebrated 
in consequence of 
its being the room 
in which General 
Monk planned the 
restoration of 
Charles II. The 
window recess 
which was used 
for this purpose 
is not shewn in 
the illustration ; 
it was at the west 
end of the room. 
The walls are nine 
feet thick. The 
portraits are of 
great interest : the 
Duchess of Buc- 
cleuch and Mon- 
mouth, with her 
two sons James, 
Earl of Dalkeith 
and Henry, Earl of Deloraine on either side, by Kneller ; the Duke 
of Monmouth in armour, by Riley ; a magnificent Holbein, in 
perfect preservation, of Sir Nicholas Carew, Master of the Horse 
to Henry VIII. ; George, Duke of Montagu, and his Duchess, 




ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF BUCCLEUCH 

BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 




289 



290 DalKeitb (palace 

both by Gainsborough ; William and Mary, Prince and Princess 
of Orange, by Van Dyck ; and Richard Rich, Earl of Warwick, by 
the same painter. There is also a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots 
with a rose in her hand ; her hair in this picture is very fair. She 
appears as beautiful as historians have described her. 

In one of the windows there is a large silver bowl, dated 
1702, over two thousand ounces in weight. The royal arms are 
engraved upon it, as it was the property of John, second Duke 
of Argyll, at one time ambassador to Spain. He left it to his 
daughter Lady Mary Coke, sister to Lady Dalkeith, Four similar 
bowls are known to exist in England : they were formerly used 
for washing plates, knives, and forks in the room during the 
course of a banquet ; also as wine-coolers. This bowl has since 
been put to better use, as it was filled with whisky-toddy when 
the present Duke came of age, in 1852. 

The Dining-room opens into the Marble Hall, which is at 
the foot of the staircase. Both the Hall and staircase are a mix- 
ture of old oak and marble ; the upper portion of the staircase 
is supported by a large marble pillar, and the artistic effect of this 
unusual combination is excellent. The statue of the great Duke 
of Wellington was the last likeness ever taken of him. 

Amongst the furniture in the Hall, some old-fashioned chairs 
of red velvet embroidered with gold and "A.B." surmounted 
by a coronet, a tapestry screen supposed to be the work of 
Mary Queen of Scots, a pair of bantam cabinets, and a quantity 
of Oriental china, are well worthy of notice. Amongst the 
pictures is one of Lady Mary Coke, three of scenes of battles 
fought by Monmouth, one of which bears the following inscrip- 
tion : Expeditio Pontis Bothwelliani in Scotia anno domini 1679 
sub imperio Jacobi Duds Monmoutheusis. I PVyck fecit. 

There is a large and varied collection of paintings on the 
staircase, which include " Saints Disputing" by Andrea del Sarto^ 




291 



292 



H)alftcitb ipalace 



"Saint Francis" and "Saint Bruno," both by Caracci, and two 
large pictures of Constantinople and Ispahan ; whilst above the 
landing is a large equestrian portrait of the Duke of Monmouth 
by Wyck in full costume as Master of the Horse. The tapestry 
chairs, with their beautifully carved legs, are traditionally held 

to be the work of 



the ladies of the 
Court of Mary 
Queen of Scots, 
whilst the ebony 
cabinet embossed 
I with gold was 
given to the Duke 
of Monmouth by 
Charles II. 

The Gallery, 
which is on the 
first floor, is per- 
haps the finest 
room in the 
house ; it has the 
unique distinc- 
tion of being the 
only room in a 
private house in 
which Her Majesty has held a state Drawing-room. When an 
epidemic of scarlet fever in 1842 prevented the Queen from 
occupying Holyrood, Her Majesty held her Court at Dalkeith 
instead. 

The shape of the room is that of a double cube ; the walls 
are red, whilst the Louis XV. furniture and the curtains are 
draped in light blue satin. It contains five portraits by Sir Joshua : 




THE DUCHESS OF MONTAGU 

BY GAINSBOROUGH 




THE DUCHESS'S SITTING-ROOM, DALKEITH PALACE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. BALMAIN, EDINBURGH 



293 



294 



Dameiib palace 



Sophia Campbell, Lady de Clifford ; the Duchess of Buccleuch 
and her daughter ; the ladies Montagu ; Charles, Duke of Buc- 
cleuch, as a boy caressing an owl (this picture is known as "The 
Pink Boy," and is supposed to have been painted as a rival to 
Gainsborough's celebrated "Blue Boy"). The well-known por- 
trait of a little girl 
with a muff rep- 
re s e n t s Lady 
Caroline Scott, 
afterwards Mar- 
chioness of 
Queensberry. Sir 
Joshua was so 
captivated by her 
appearance, when 
she came to see 
her brother 
whilst he was 
being painted, 
that he insisted 
upon her sitting 
to him at once. 



J 




SOPHIA CAMPBELL, LADY DE CLIFFORD 

BV SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS 



There is a 



picture of Duke 
Henry with a dog (supposed to be the original Dandie Dinmont) 
under his arm, by Gainsborough ; amongst other portraits are 
those of Queen Henrietta Maria, by Van Dyck ; Sarah, Duchess of 
Marlborough, looking very handsome in a red dress ; John, Duke 
of Argyll and Greenwich, in armour worn over a red kilt ; the 
Duke of Monmouth, in Garter robes, by Lely ; James Vl. and Anne 
of Bohemia, the two latter by Jamesone. There are also some fine 
landscapes by Wouvermans, Vernet, and Claude Lorraine. 




THE CANALETTO ROOM, DALKEITH PALACE 

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY J. BALMAIN, ECINBURGH 



295 



296 Daltieitb Ipalace 

The two cabinets were given by Louis XIV. to Charles II., 
and afterwards presented by him as a wedding present to the 
Duke of Monmouth ; both are in perfect preservation, whilst the 
figures which support the larger cabinet are magnificent. 

Next door is the Canaletto Room, so called in cousequence 
of six very fine specimens of that artist's work. The Duke of 
Monmouth also figures in this room in the guise of "St. John 
and the Lamb," by Sir Peter Lely. This picture seems to have 
impressed itself on the memory of travellers such as Pennant, who 
visited Dalkeith in days gone by. The mirror which hangs on 
the west wall is a splendid specimen of French work. It was 
given by Charles II. as a wedding present to Duchess Anne; 
her monogram is on the top. 

Amongst other rooms of interest are the Queen's Room, the 
resting-place of Royal visitors, and General Monk's Bedroom, 
a large and exceedingly dingy apartment with extraordinarily 
thick walls. The Charter-room contains a countless number of 
ancient documents, some of great value and interest, others not 
even worthy of the dust which clings to them. This room also 
contains many objects of historical interest : the garments that 
Monmouth wore as Master of the Horse, and the suit in which 
he bowed his head to the executioner's axe ; the bowl in which 
the wizard, Lord Soulis, was "tied with ropes of sand, and boiled 
in molten lead " ; and last, but not least, the " Bellenden Banner," 
the ancient standard of the Scotts of Buccleuch. (The banner 
bears a shield, with a scroll, bearing the words "a Bellandane.") 
"A Bellenden!" was their battle cry. This banner forms a 
connecting link between the bold Buccleuchs who fought and 
lived in Branxholme Tower, and their successors who now live 
so peacefully in Dalkeith Palace. 



St- niMcbaers flDount 



207 




ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT AT HIGH WATER 



ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT 



BY THE HON. JOHN ST. AUBYN 



I"N these days of profusely illustrated literature of all kinds 
there must be few people who are not familiar with the 
stately outline of Mont St. Michel on the coast of Nor- 
mandy ; even if they have not crossed the long causeway which 
connects that granite outwork to the mainland, or climbed the 
narrow streets of the old town up to the famous castle and mo- 
nastic church which crown its summit. 

And no one who has seen its smaller namesake on our 
Cornish coast can fail to be struck with the resemblance between 
the two — both formed by nature of the same material, and nearly 
on the same pattern ; both dedicated to the same celestial patron 
of mariners ; both, at one time, united under the same ecclesias- 
tical authority, though separated by a hundred miles of sea. 

It is needless to say that our St. Michael's Mount — known as 
"the Mount" par excellence throughout West Cornwall — is an 
island standing in the hollow of Mount's Bay, to which it gives 

29g 



300 St. riDicbaers; fIDount 

its name, and which stretches away westward, past Penzance, 
towards the rugged granite promontory that terminates in the 
Land's End. Its pyramidal form renders it a conspicuous object 
for miles around both from sea and land. Its base of granite 
rocks, encircled by sea, is about a mile in circumference. Its 
sloping sides are partly covered with short grass and bracken ; 
broken, especially on its more precipitous seaward front, by crags 
and boulders, interspersed with shrubs, through which a rocky 
pathway winds up to the gate of the convent castle, which, since 
i6=)7, has been the property of the St. Aubyn family. Their flag, 
hoisted on the chapel tower, stands two hundred and seventy- 
five feet above the sea. The causeway of rock and sand which 
joins it to the shore at Marazion at low tide is about five hundred 
yards long ; but at high tide, in heavy weather, it is often im- 
passable for days together ; for when gales are raging from the 
south-west, the boats, which are kept in the little harbour at the 
foot of the Mount, dare not leave the shelter of the massive pier, 
or attempt a landing in the surf, which rushes on the opposite 
shore with the full force of the Atlantic rollers. In winter time 
the tide-table and barometer have constantly to be consulted for 
an answer to the questions: "Will the Causeway be open?" 
" Will boating be possible ?" 

A dwelling-place so unlike the ordinary run of country houses 
would have a special interest of its own, even if its history did 
not carry us back into the distant ages of romance and myth. 

The earliest record of the Mount is that of Diodorus, the 
Sicilian historian, who wrote during the half-century preceding 
the Christian era. He mentions it, under the name of Iktis, as 
the place where the Phoenicians came to buy tin ; and carefully 
describes it as an island adjoining Britain, where at low water the 
intervening space is left dry, over which the miners carry the tin 
in their carts. 




ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT AT LOW WATER 



302 St. fIDicbaers flDount 

There has been much controversy as to the identity of this 
island with the Mount, but there is no other place near the tin- 
mining districts which so well answers to this description, and 
there is good room for believing that the Phoenician tin trade with 
Cornwall was carried on in much earlier times/ At the same 
time tradition says that the iMount was once completely on the 
mainland, and more or less surrounded by a forest ; and it is said 
that trees can still be seen at very low tides imbedded in the 
sands. Locally, the place was called in the old Cornish language 
Dinsull — " the look-out hill," and Carrig lu^ en Ku:(, "the grey 
rock in the wood." 

It was about the year 4Q0 that some fishermen in a boat saw 
a vision of St. Michael on the summit of the western cliffs, and 
the Mount became a sacred spot, to which pilgrims were wont to 
resort. Among others came St. Keyne, daughter of a Welsh 
chieftain — the King of Breckon — and when her nephew St. 
Cadoc came there to escort her home, he is said to have caused a 
spring to rise by striking the ground with his staff (Could it 
have been he who introduced the divining rod, in which Cornish- 
men still implicitly believe as a means of finding water?) 

The first historical document referring to St. Michael's Mount 
is a charter of King Edward the Confessor, about 1053 a.d., 
wherein he gives to " St. Michael the Archangel" (i.e., the Abbey 
of St. Michael's Mount in Normandy) "for the use of the breth- 
ren serving God in that place — St. Michael which is near the 
sea, with all its appendages, i.e., castles, towns, lands, etc." The 

' Several pleasing fancies used to be current in Cornwall, as articles of faith : e.g., that the Scilly 
Isles were the Cassiterides, that the Mount was Ictis, and that the art of scalding cream was introduced 
by the Phoenicians — the seductive junket being the " butter " that Jael brought to Sisera in " the lordly 
dish." But it is most doubtful if the Phoenicians ever traded direct with Cornwall at all. Professor Rhys, 
in Early Celtic Britain, goes far to show that the tin was carried from Cornwall (or rather from the region 
around Dartmoor) overland to Thanet, and thence shipped to Gaul. At any rate, if Phoenicians did visit 
Cornwall, certain it is that they left surprisingly little behind them ! They must have given something 
to the natives in exchange for the metal : what did they give ? The only relics of antiquity that have 
been found in the county, possibly connected with them, are a small bronze bull, and an astragal block 
of tin, shaped for strapping on horseback. — Ed. 




303 



304 St. niMchaers flDount 

King probably built a church and some dwellings for the clergy 
ministering there, Pope Gregory, in 1070, remitting a third part of 
their penances to all who should visit and enrich the Mount. 

After the Conquest, Robert, Earl of Mortain, half-brother of 
William the Conqueror, was made Earl of Cornwall, and he made 
a fresh grant of the Mount to the Norman Abbey by a charter 
which was witnessed by " William the glorious King of the Eng- 
lish, and the Queen, and their children," and confirmed and rati- 
fied in 1085 by Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter, who also 
exempted the place from all episcopal jurisdiction, an immunity 
it enjoys to the present day. 

If there was a church here at that time, it must have been 
destroyed,^ or possibly not have afforded sufficient accommoda- 
tion for the pilgrims visiting it, — for in 1 135 a new one was con- 
secrated by the Bishop of Exeter, William Warelwast, assisted by 
Bernard, Abbot of the Norman Mont St. Michel, who settled here 
thirteen brethren " in honour of Christ Jesus and His apostles." 

The monastery received influential support. Allan, Earl of 
Brittany, Cornwall, and Richmond, assigned to the monks there in 
1 140 the tolls due to him from the fair at Merdresein (Marazion), 
valued at ten shillings a year ; and his successor, Conan, made 
them a grant of certain lands. 

There is a Bull of Pope Adrian, issued in 1155, confirming all 
their possessions to the brethren of the Norman Abbey, including 
St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall. 

For seven hundred years the Mount retained its purely ec- 
clesiastical character, but, in 1194, it began a military career un- 
der the following circumstances : 

While Richard 1. was crusading in Palestine, Henry de la 
Pomeroy, a man of large possessions in Devonshire and Corn- 
wall, had espoused the cause of the King's disloyal brother, John, 
Earl of Cornwall. When Richard came home and heard of Pom- 



St. flDicbaePs fIDount 305 

eroy's treason, he sent a serjeant-at-arms to arrest him at his 
castle of Berry Pomeroy, in Devonshire. Pomeroy, however, 
stabbed this officer, and then fled with some followers to St. 
Michael's Mount, where he had a sister living as a nun. Under 
pretence of visiting this sister, Pomeroy got admitted with his 
retinue into the convent, which he promptly seized and fortified. 

The King sent a force to reduce the Mount and take Pomeroy, 
under the command of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In these 
days we should hardly look upon this as a very fitting selection ; 
but his Grace justified the King's confidence in his military 
talents, and Pomeroy, despairing of a successful resistance, be- 
queathed some of his lands to the monks to pray for his soul, and 
bled himself to death. By doing this he assured to his son the 
inheritance of his property, which would have been forfeited had 
he been convicted of high treason. 

The King put a force into " Pomeroy's fort," as it was called, 
and it continued to be regarded as a fortress and to be occupied 
by a garrison for nearly five hundred years. It was still, how- 
ever, a monastery as well as a fort. 

From the mention in this story of a nun it would appear that 
there were nuns as well as monks in the convent ; but whether 
the priory was of the Gilbertine order, — under whose rule monks 
and nuns lived in the same convent, — or whether the nuns 
formed a separate establishment altogether, is not clear. 

In 1266, the convent ceased to be a mere cell attached to the 
Norman Abbey, and had a seal and perpetual prior of its own. 
The first of these priors was Radulphus de Carteret, and he had 
eight successors in the office — not all of them satisfactory, it 
would seem — Bishop Grandisson of Exeter reporting, in 1336, 
that he visited the Mount and found the Prior was careless in the 
performance of his duties. 

In 1290, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, recites and confirms 



3o6 



St. flDicbael's fIDount 



certain grants of lands and money made to the Mount by Richard, 
Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans. 

The last Prior, William Lamibert, was presented by King 
Henry IV. in 141 2 ; but he cannot have enjoyed the office long, 
for, in 141 3, Henry V. gave the Mount to Sion Abbey, at Brent- 
ford. It would appear that the conventual establishment of the 
Mount was included among the alien priories which were sup- 
pressed in England about this date — at all events, we hear 




^l^s^r..^^. 



THE PATHWAY TO THE CASTLE 



nothing more of monks and nuns after this, and a chaplain 
assumed ecclesiastical charge of the place, which still continued 
to be occupied as a fortress. 

About 1425, one of these chaplains, William Morton, began 
to build the first harbour of which there is any record, being 
assisted by Bishop Lacy of Exeter, who granted an indulgence 
of forty days to all who should contribute to its erection. How- 
ever, in 1427, the funds for the purpose being still found inade- 
quate, Morton appealed for help to the King, Henry VI., who 
granted him certain dues to be levied on ships anchoring near the 
Mount, and on "foreign boats fishing for hake during the season." 




THE CHAPEL, FROM THE NORTH COURT 



307 



St flDicbael'6 fIDount 309 

In 1470, after the battle of Barnet, John de Vere, Earl of 
Oxford, who had fought for Henry VI., tied to the Mount — of 
which he had possibly heard from his grandmother, who had 
been widow of Guy St. Aubyn of Clowance in Cornwall. Dis- 
guising themselves as pilgrims, he and his followers obtained 
access to the Castle, when they overpowered the garrison and 
established themselves in their place. King Edward IV. promptly 
ordered the Sheriff of Cornwall, Sir John Arundell of Trerice, to 
turn them out ; but he was repulsed in his attack, and killed on 
the sands between the Mount and Marazion. Strangely enough, 
it had been foretold to him that he should die on the sands, and 
he had been so much impressed by the prediction that he had 
moved from the north coast of Cornwall, where he used to live, 
to Trerice, which is inland, in order to avoid being near the sea. 

The siege, which had begun on September loth, was con- 
tinued by John Fortescue, who succeeded Arundell as Sheriff; 
but with so little success that the King thought it best to 
negotiate with Oxford, and the latter surrendered on February 
15, 1471, on condition that he and his adherents should be par- 
doned and granted their liberty and estates. However, the King 
imprisoned him in the Castle of Hammes, in Normandy, where 
he remained for many years, till he managed to escape, and 
having accompanied the Earl of Richmond to England, was slain 
at the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. 

A bit of romance now comes into the history of the Mount ; 
Lady Katharine Gordon, the beautiful wife of Perkin V/arbeck, 
being left here by her husband in 1497, while he prosecuted his 
unsuccessful enterprise against Henry VII. When this had failed 
the King sent Lord Daubeny to bring her to London, and made 
her an allowance for the rest of her life. 

In 1539, Sion was dissolved, with other monasteries in Eng- 
land, and its estates seized by the King, Henry VIII., who gave 



3IO St. flDicbael's riDount 

the government and revenues of the Mount to Humphrey Arun- 
dell of Lanherne. Gratitude does not seem to have been one 
of Arundell's virtues, for when in 154Q a rebellion arose in Corn- 
wall on the subject of the Reformation, Arundell put himself at 
the head of the insurgents. He succeeded in getting as far as 
Clifton Down, where he was defeated by Lord Russell, taken 
prisoner, and executed in London. During his absence some 
loyal Cornish gentlemen and their families established them- 
selves for protection in the Mount, where, says Carew, — "The 
Rebels besieged them ; first winning the plain at the hill's 
foot by assault when the water was out, and then the even 
ground on the top by carrying up great trusses of hay before 
them to blench the defendants' sight and dead their shot. After 
which the resistance was but slender ; for as soon as any one 
within appeared he became an open mark for a whole shower of 
arrows. This disadvantage, the decrease of victuals, together 
with the dismay of the women, forced a surrender to those rake- 
hells' mercy ; who, nothing guilty of that effeminate virtue, 
spoiled their goods, imprisoned their bodies, and were rather 
by God's gracious providence than by any want of will, purpose 
or attempt, restrained from murdering the principal persons." 

After the suppression of this rebellion the Crown leased the 
place to several persons, who were known as Governors or 
Captains of the Mount, having charge of the garrison there. 
These were successively John Militon of Pengerswick, his son 
William, William Harris, and his son Arthur. The garrison in 
the time of the latter consisted of a hundred men. During his 
life Queen Elizabeth granted the reversion of the lease to two 
people called Bellot and Budden, who, on his death in 1628, sold 
it to Robert, Earl of Salisbury, for £']\ 14 odd. His son and suc- 
cessor, William, sold it to Francis Basset of Tehidig in 1640, and 
it was fortified and garrisoned by him for King Charles 1. in 1642. 




311 



312 St. fIDicbaers flDount 

Charles II. is said to have stayed here on his way to Scilly and 
France, but though a small room in the Castle has been called 
King Charles's room as long as any one can remember, having, 
according to tradition, been occupied by him on this occasion, 
there is no evidence that he ever got farther to the west on 
the mainland than Falmouth. Sir Arthur Basset succeeded his 
brother, and by order of the King brought the Duke of Hamilton, 
who was a prisoner in Pendennis Castle of Falmouth, to the 
Mount, meaning to send him on to Scilly ; but before he could 
do so the place was besieged by a force of Parliamentarians under 
Colonel Hammond, to whom it was surrendered on April 15, 
1646, the Governor and garrison getting permission to retire to 
Scilly. 

It turned out a valuable prize. Besides the Duke of Hamil- 
ton there was found in the Castle a good store of ammunition 
and provisions, including a hundred barrels of powder, tlve hun- 
dred muskets, one hundred pikes, thirty cannon, three "mur- 
thering pieces," and eighty tuns of wine. Major Ceely was 
appointed Governor by the Parliament. 

In i6s7, fh^ l^st change of ownership in the history of the 
Mount took place, Sir Arthur Basset selling it to John St. Aubyn 
of Clowance, near Camborne, in Cornwall. It was one thing, 
though, to buy a place in those days ; quite another thing to get 
possession of it. At all events, it appears that Mr. St. Aubyn 
found it necessary to present a petition to " His Highness the 
Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and 
Ireland, etc.," setting forth that he was prevented from " enjoying 
his right and interest" in the Mount by a "small garrison of 
twelve men." On " Tuesday, 9th of March, 1557, ^f the Council 
of Whitehall," the petition was ordered to be "referred to the 
Lords Commissioners of the Treasury " for consideration ; but it 
was not till March 12, 1659, that an order signed "George 




313 



314 St. fIDicbaers fIDount 

Monck " (afterwards Duke of Albemarle) issued to Colonel Ben- 
net to disband the men under his command, and to deliver up 
the house and stores and " provision of war," etc., to " Colonel 
John St. Aubyn." (He had been a colonel for the Parliament in 
the Civil Wars ; his brother Thomas having served in a similar 
capacity on the Royalist side.) The original order of Monck, 
accompanied by a contemporary copy of the petition and order 
referring it for consideration, are now in the possession of Lord 
St. Levan. 

This ends the military history of the Mount, which has not 
been garrisoned since the Restoration, though its guns have been 
fired at enemies' ships up to as late a date as the last French War. 

Since that time the Mount has remained in the St. Aubyn 
family for eight generations. For the most part they only used 
to live there occasionally, continuing to make Clowance, where 
they had been established since 1180, their principal residence. 
However, the above-mentioned Colonel St. Aubyn preferred the 
Mount to Clowance, which he gave up to his son, Sir John St. 
Aubyn, who in his turn came to live here "for melancholy retire- 
ment," according to Hals. Tradition says he was caught by the 
tide when crossing the causeway and drowned ; and the absence 
of any monument to him would seem to confirm this story. 
Although he repaired and altered some of the rooms, his grand- 
son, Sir John St. Aubyn, found the house in very bad condition, 
the pier in ruins, and the village deserted —only one old woman 
living there. He restored, "almost rebuilt," the pier, by which 
means he induced people from Marazion to come and settle there, 
and start a fishery for pilchards, and a trade with Norway for 
timber for the neighbouring mines. He also repaired the Castle, 
and lived in it "with great repute." The two succeeding Sir 
John St. Aubyns frequently came here, and added to and altered 
the building and village at various times ; and the present owner, 




THE NEW BUILDINGS, ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT 



315 



o 



1 6 St. flDicbael's flDount 



Lord St. Levan, has made very large additions to the Castle, 
where he lives most of the year. 

The Mount was visited by the Queen in 1846, and by the 
Prince and Princess of Wales in 1864. 

It will be seen from the above account that the building on 
the summit of the Mount has seen many changes during its long 
and not uneventful existence — beginning as a church, and be- 
coming, successively, first a convent, then a convent and fortress 
combined, then a fortress and church, and finally a country house 
and church. Let us pay it a visit, and see what traces of its 
history remain at the present time. 

The first thing one notices on leaving the shore at Marazion,, 
in a boat if the tide is high, or on foot if it is low enough for the 
causeway to be uncovered, is a large mass of greenstone, called 
the Chapel Rock, on which stood formerly a small shrine or 
oratory, where the pilgrims used to pray before crossing to the 
Mount. This is the only bit of greenstone in the neighbourhood, 
and in old days its presence here was accounted for by the 
following tradition : 

In the days of the giants — who were numerous in Cornwall 
— one of them, who lived on the Mount, built himself a house of 
granite. He employed his wife to bring stones for him ; and one 
day she brought this bit of greenstone instead of granite, on 
which her husband gave her such a blow that she dropped it out 
other apron, and there it has remained ever since. 

Your boat will land you in the harbour — the same one con- 
structed originally by William Morton, but changed and enlarged 
at various times, finally receiving its present shape early in the 
present century. Facing it is a village containing about eighty 
inhabitants. About a hundred years ago, in the prosperous times 
of mining and the pilchard fishery, this must have been a busy 




317 



3i8 St. flDicbad'e riDount 

place, the harbour dues amounting to as much as ^800 a year ; 
but times are changed, and now only a few small colliers call in, 
and the business of the pilchard seines has vanished. 

Passing through the village, past the cemetery, with its lych- 
gate and luxurious shrubs, you find yourself on the green " plain 
at the hill's foot " described by Carew ; and after discovering 
that the octagonal granite building under the hill which you 
took to be a chapel, is a dairy you begin the ascent by a steep 
path, roughly paved, and with the remains of steps at places, 
till you come to a well, said to be the scene of the Giant Cor- 
moran's defeat at the hands of our childhood's hero. Jack the 
Giant Killer. Passing a small grove of ilex and sycamore, dwarfed 
and twisted by the ceaseless tyranny of the west winds, you 
come to an old ravelin built across the road, with a kind of sentry 
box overhanging the cliff. It may have been part of very early 
fortifications, but has embrasures for cannons and loopholes for 
musketry, into one of which a tombstone has been built. A 
gateway, from which the gate has long disappeared, lets you 
through to the top of the western cliffs, where there are two 
batteries of old guns, placed here during the last century, and 
from which a fine view of Penzance and the western shore of 
Mount's Bay is obtained. A flight of granite steps leads up to 
the low oak door of Tudor date, but, constructed in a wall 
eight feet thick, which is possibly the oldest part of the building, 
may have been part of the Confessor's edifice. On the right of 
the steps are remains of the walls of the garrison's guard-room, 
on the left a small niche, the object of which is not apparent, and 
over the door the arms of Colonel St. Aubyn, who bought the 
Mount, impaled with those of his wife, who was a Godolphin. 

On entering the building, a second door leads on to the 
North Court, bounded on the right by the Chapel, which is 
approached by a double tlight of granite steps. The Chapel has 



St. flDicbacI's flDount 



'I9 



been altered and restored at various times ; but the walls are 
very old, and may have formed part of William of Mortain's 
Chapel. 

The large organ, which conceals a good rose window, was 
placed there by 
Sir John St. Au- 
byn towards the 
end of the XVllI 
century, and the 
stalls in the chan- 
cel are of the 
same date. Un- 
der one of the 
seats of these 
stalls a few steps 
lead down into a 
small vault, with 
a bricked-up win- 
dow that origin- 
ally opened on to 
the South Court. 
This was discov- 
ered in 1725, and 
in it was found 
the skeleton of a 
man seven feet 
high, together 

with a pitcher and platter. Nothing whatever is known about 
this skeleton, who the man was or how he came there. It was 
buried again in the North Court outside the Chapel, where it' 
was found again about thirty years ago, and then finally interred 
in the cemetery at the foot of the Mount. 




LOOKING EAST FROM THE BATTERY 



320 St. fIDicbacre flDount 

There are some curious alabaster carvings over the altar, 
including a head of St. John the Baptist. No one knows when 
the large silver candlesticks, of foreign manufacture, were brought 
here. 

A narrow staircase leads to the top of the tower, whence 
a magnificent view is obtained on a fine day — the broken out- 
line of the semicircle of granite hills which inclose Mount's 
Bay on the west, north and east, contrasting with the solemnly 
level horizon of the ocean, which stretches away on the south 
and west in an unbroken expanse to the distant shores of South 
America. 

At the south-west corner of the tower are the remains of 
a stone lantern, which probably served as a beacon — perhaps 
the earliest specimen of a lighthouse in these seas. The outer 
part is broken away, and the remainder goes by the name of 
St. Michael's Chair, and is reputed to have the property of con- 
ferring the supremacy in domestic matters on the husband or 
wife who succeeds in sitting in it first. As it is not easy to get 
into it, still more difficult to get out of it, and when you are 
there your legs hang over the face of the tower wall at a giddy 
height, a lady who attempts the adventure is considerably 
handicapped. 

There are some old fifteenth- century bells in the tower, but 
they are not hung, and one is cracked. 

hi the North Court, outside the Chapel, three objects will 
attract the visitor's attention : a lion of red syenite, a memento 
of the British occupation of Egypt ; an old capital of Edwardian 
date on the top of the Chapel steps ; and a fragment of a stone 
tombstone, supposed from the cross at the foot to have been that 
of one of the priors. 

At the east end of the North Court is a building which was 
originally the nunnery, now occupied by two sitting-rooms. In 



St. riDicbacrs fIDount 



;2i 



1720 it was in ruins. In the eastern end was the Chapel, and 
there was an upper story where the nuns slept. They had a 
separate entrance into the Chapel, by a door which is now 
walled up. Their abode was altered into its present form about 
1725. 

A stone terrace was built round this building by Sir John St. 
Aubyn in 1820, 
leading to the 
S o u t h Co u r t. 
From this you 
pass through a 
small Smoking- 
room, which con- 
tains three old 
pictures of the 
Mount, to the 
Dining-room, 
known as the 
"Chevy Chase 
Room " — a name 
derived from a 
plaster frieze of 
Elizabethan date 
running round it, 
depicting various u^' 
forms of sport, 
from rabbit shooting, or rather stalking, to ostrich spearing and 
bear hunting. This room was the refectory of the convent. At one 
end are the royal arms, with the dates 1644 and 1660 on them. 
The first has been supposed to refer to the visit of Charles II. on 
his way to Scilly. He stayed in a small room to the east of the 
Smoking-room, now demolished, though the adjoining room still 




ST. MICHAEL'S CHAIR 



322 St. flDicbacI's riDount 

bears his name. The second refers to the Restoration. At the 
other end are the arms of the Colonel St. Aubyn who bought the 
Mount. The walls are covered with a few pieces of armour said 
to have belonged to the Cromwellian garrison, some old pistols 
and guns, and specimens of Egyptian, Soudanese, Burmese, and 
Chinese weapons brought to England by members of the St. 
Aubyn family. 

The stained glass in the windows was brought here about 
1750. The old rafters still remain, and there are some old chairs, 
including one of the three original Glastonbury chairs now exist- 
ing, and some curious candlesticks. 

From the "Chevy Chase " four steps lead to the Breakfast- 
room, once the Prior's lodging. It was formerly twice as high, 
and lighted by two Early English windows, but was afterwards 
divided into two rooms. West of this room are a Sitting-room in 
the south-west angle of the building, and a low hall, in which 
are kept an old breech-loading cannon of the fifteenth century — 
which was found in 1876 under the floor of one of the old rooms, 
with a human skeleton alongside of it — and cannon-balls and 
bullets of various sizes, which have been dug up on the Mount 
from time to time. 

Over this was formerly a long room, which served as a dor- 
mitory for the monks. It was divided into bedrooms by Sir John 
St. Aubyn about 1680. A few rooms in the north-west angle and 
a room under the Dining-room completed the old part of the 
house, which it will be seen did not contain much accommo- 
dation. 

In 1876, Lord St. Levan began to build extensive additions to 
the house, constructing kitchens, etc., under the North Court, 
and four stories of living-rooms and bedrooms under the South 
Court, which he considerably extended, besides a wing at the 
north-west corner. The architect, Mr. Piers St. Aubyn, had by 




323 



324 St. HDicbaers flDount 

no means an easy task to carry out these additions in such an ex- 
posed situation and without detracting from the appearance of 
the old building. Some of the granite was found on the spot, 
notably the chimiieypiece in the Drawing-room, which was 
quarried in the place where it now stands. Among the pictures 
in the Drawing-room and Billiard-room is one of a Miss Avice St. 
Aubyn, painted when she was 105 years old, and one of Dolly 
Pentreath, the last person who spoke the old Cornish language, 
who died in the XVlll century ; and there is a curious miniature of 
King Charles 1. with a full beard, ''Sat for by the King for Sir 
Bevil Grenville " being written on the back of it. The Billiard- 
room contains a collection of stuffed fish caught in the neighbour- 
hood, including some rare specimens. Among the fish preserved 
here is a sun-fish, caught two years ago, which weighed 840 lbs. 

A visit to the Mount is not complete without a walk round 
the foot of the hill, whence you get a good view of the Castle and 
of the cliffs and crags, and whence if there is a gale of wind you 
can get a remarkably good idea of the force of both v/ind and sea. 
On the south-east corner a stone platform marks the position of a 
gun which exploded while being fired at a French privateer 
which had chased some vessels into the bay. The grave of one 
of the gun's crew is in the cemetery. There is another two-gun 
battery at the south-west corner, and near it the site of the fur- 
nace in which it was the practice to red-heat the shot meant to 
be fired at hostile ships. Just below this is the bathing-place, 
only available for those who can swim, as it is a rock rising per- 
pendicularly from five fathoms of water. On the south side of 
the hill is a small Garden, constructed in 1734, where aloes and 
myrtles flourish ; and in February the whole of the Mount is 
covered with wild narcissus. 

One of the curiosities at the Mount is the livery worn by 
Lord St. Levan's six boatmen on great occasions. It dates from 



St. riDicbacrs noount 325 

a hundred and fifty years ago, and consists of a long red water- 
man's coat, with yellow facings, with a large brass badge on the 
left sleeve stamped with the St. Aubyn arms, a frilled shirt, white 
canvas sea petticoat, and a sort of hunting-cap made of leather 
with the family crest in brass on the front. 

It will be gathered from the above description that life at St. 
Michael's Mount must be different in many respects from ordinary 
life in a country house. Carriages cannot get nearer than the 
opposite shore, and it is always necessary to walk up the hill to 
get to the castle, unless you wish to be carried in a chair kept for 
that purpose. 

Altogether, it is a residence adapted for fine weather, and it is 
in summer that it should be visited ; unless, indeed, the visitor 
should be curious about the force of the wind and sea — a subject 
which he would have ample opportunities for learning about were 
he to pass a day here during a winter's gale. 



Stowe 



327 




THE NORTH FRONT OF STOWE 



STOWE 



BY JOHN ORLANDO HARTES 



WITHIN three miles of the sleepy little town of Bucking- 
ham stands the historic palace of Stowe, once the 
stately home of the Dukes of Buckingham, for a few 
years the residence of the exiled Comte de Paris, and now the 
property of the last Duke's widowed daughter. Baroness Kinloss, 
who lives at Biddlesden, not far from the seat of her ancestors. 

"Sic transit gloria mundi." These are the words which 
naturally occur to one's mind whilst wandering in those beautiful 
gardens, dominated by the statue of their designer (Lord Cob- 
ham), or in the galleries of that stately palace — once the favoured 
resort of the most distinguished poets and literati of a bygone 
century. Here, with lavish hospitality, "brave Cobham enter- 
tained the witty Chesterfield, the harmonious Pope, the plaintive 
Hammond, the eloquent Lyttleton, the ingenious Pitt, and the 
acute West." 

Christian VII. of Denmark visited Stowe in 1760, and here in 
1809 the Marquis of Buckingham received as honoured guests 



329 



330 Stovoe 

Louis XVIII. and all the French royal family. This visit is com- 
memorated by the trees planted around the Bourbon Tower. 
The King of Sweden, two Emperors of Russia, the King of 
Navarre, the Prince of Prussia, as well as many English royalties, 
have honoured Stowe with their presence. And here in 1845, 
with princely prodigality, the great Duke entertained the Queen. 

Stowe then was the home of one of England's wealthiest 
Dukes, a great landowner giving employment to hundreds on his 
vast estates, and the head of the Conservative landed interest in 
Parliament; — Stowe now is shut up, its gardens desolate, its 
Park deserted, save during the Yeomanry Week, when the Prince 
of Wales held the annual May inspection amid the sylvan shades 
of the Park. 

The earliest mention of Stowe (derived from a local word 
meaning rising ground or eminence) is found in the Domesday 
Book. It had been held in the reign of Edward the Confessor by 
one Turgisius, then by Robert D'Oyley and Roger Ivory, of the 
Bishop of Bayeux, at a rental of 60s. But in 1088, when the 
Bishop was dispossessed of his lands, it became D'Oyley's 
property. Founding a church in his castle at Oxford, he en- 
dowed it with Stowe, and, later, bestowed this domain on the 
canons of Oseney Abbey. At the dissolution of the monasteries 
it was granted by Henry VIII. to King, the first Bishop of Oxford 
(formerly Abbot of Oseney), and his successors in the see. The 
estate was purchased in 1560 by Peter Temple, who erected the 
original mansion. The Temples trace their descent from Leofric, 
Earl of Mercia, the husband of the Lady Godiva, renowned for 
her famous ride through Coventry town in 1040. Subsequently, 
a descendant, Sir Peter Temple, enclosed two hundred acres of 
ground for a park and stocked it with deer from Wicken in 
Northamptonshire. 

Sir Richard Temple built the present house, and, on his death 




331 



332 Stowe 

in i6q7, was succeeded by his son, Sir Richard Temple, who, dis- 
tinguishing himself in the wars under Marlborough, was rewarded, 
on George I.'s accession, with the title of Baron Cobham. Four 
years later he was raised to the viscountcy. He rebuilt the front 
of the house in the Grecian style, and added two wings, making 
the total length 916 feet. On his death, in 1740, Stowe passed 
by special remainder to his second sister, Hester, wife of Richard 
Grenville of Wotton, while the baronetcy of Temple went to a 
younger branch of the family. 

The Grenvilles derive from Richard de Granville, Lord of 
Granville in Normandy, who became possessor of Wotton through 
his wife in 1097 — the year of the First Crusade. From him 
Wotton has descended through four-and-twenty generations to 
the present Earl Temple of Stowe. 

Hester, Lady Cobham, was subsequently created Countess 
Temple. Her eldest son, Richard, first Earl Temple, dying with- 
out issue, was succeeded by his nephew, George Grenville, twice 
viceroy of Ireland, who in 1784 was created Marquis of Bucking- 
ham. In 1822, his successor, having married the only daughter 
and heiress of James Brydges (the last Duke of Chandos), was 
made Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. This lady was the 
sole representative of Henry VIlI.'s sister, Mary, Queen Dowager 
of France, who married, secondly, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suf- 
folk, and was the grandmother of the unfortunate ten days' 
Queen, Lady Jane Grey. The crown of England was settled by 
the "royal Bluebeard " on her sister and her descendants under 
certain contingencies which have never occurred. 

It is a curious coincidence that the great house of Canons 
(near the village of Edgeware) —the vast palace of " princely Chan- 
dos," the patron of Handel, — was sold and dismantled in 1748, 
just a hundred years before the sale of Stowe. The famous marble 
staircase formerly at Canons is now at Chesterfield House, Mayfair. 




THE PALLADIAN BRIDGE, STOWE GARDENS 



333 



Stowe 



The second Duke, who as Marquis of Chandos had been 
the leader of the great Conservative landed interests in the House 
of Commons, succeeded to the vast estates in 1839. Some years 
later he had the honour of receiving the Queen at his princely 
mansion of Stowe. In those days the railroad had not yet 
reached Buckingham, and (according to the chronicles of the 
time) it was from Wolverton, eleven miles distant, that "the 
party set out under an escort of Yeomanry for Stowe, passing 
through triumphal arches of evergreens and crowds of rustic 

gazers, elated and loyal 
in their holiday best. 
Approaching Stowe, the 
scenery becomes more 
polished, with undulat- 
ing ground, lawns, old 
trees, parks, deer, and 
the mansion in the vista 
seen through a hand- 
some arch at the en- 



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THE CORINTHIAN ARCH 

(so BY 60 feet) 



trance to the grounds 
and between two large porticoes that flank the carriage road. 
Within the arch were troops of horsemen, many of them 
tenants of the Duke, who joined the procession ; in the Park also 
were stationed labourers in waggons and on foot, some hundreds 
in number. A grand dinner followed, and at night the mansion 
was illuminated. The Prince Consort's shooting the next day 
was very successful. In the afternoon the whole party of guests, 
to the number of twenty, walked in the grounds, the weather 
being beautifully mild and clear. Friday was almost a repetition 
of Thursday, except that among the incidents was the planting 
of an oak and a cedar each by the Queen and her Consort, and 
that at night there was a reception, at which many of the 




335 



00 



6 Stowe 



neighbouring gentry were presented." This royal visit is still the 
theme on which the aged lacemakers of Buckinghamshire vil- 
lages wax eloquent as the bobbins fly under their nimble fingers. 
One ancient dame of seventy-seven informed the writer in the 
broadest dialect, which will not be given here, " how she miaded 
the royal visit to Stowe ; how an ox was roasted whole in the 
Market Square at Buckingham ; how she never went to bed at 
all on the night of the illuminations ; and how her Majesty on 
that bright January day was wearing a tight little bonnet, which 
made her look so young, more like a girl of sixteen. Also 
how she minded her Majesty when she walked in front of 
the house, dressed in a gown of damson-coloured silk with a 
white silk slip over, and the sun shone out, and the Queen looked 
beautiful." 

But alas! we learn that "scarcely had this distinguished 
honour been conferred than it began to be rumoured that the 
Duke was a ruined man ; that notwithstanding his great palaces, 
his sumptuous furniture, his gallery of pictures, and his unrivalled 
collection of china ; notwithstanding his princely state v/ithin 
the county, his regiments of Yeomanry and Artillery ; and not- 
withstanding that he had recently added estate after estate to 
his domains," the great Duke of Buckingham was utterly in- 
solvent. These rumours proved too true ; the ruin had been 
staved off by costly expedients, but the crash came at last. 

"All the treasures that the prodigal expenditure of immense 
wealth had collected in the treasure-house at Stowe, all that 
had descended from numerous lines of ancestors, renowned for 
taste and opportunities, all passed away under the hammer. 
All the priceless heirlooms of an illustrious family were scattered 
over the world to be sold in shops, to glitter in the public rooms 
of hotels, or to decorate the mansions of self-made men. Estates 
larger than many a German principality, producing a revenue 




A CORNER OF THE NORTH HALL, STOWE 



337 



OOt 



Stowe 



larger than the revenues of many German principalities added 
together, passed into the hands of men whose wealth was but 
of yesterday. 

"The palace at Stowe, denuded of the furniture, pictures, 
and ornaments which had made it the pride of the midland 
counties, stood empty and desolate ; its porticoes and colonnades 
soiled with dirt and decayed leaves ; its temples moss-grown ; 
its fish-ponds choking up ; the lawns unshorn ; its walks 
unkept."* 

When the late Duke succeeded to the estates, he en- 
deavoured to restore Stowe to some of its former splendour, 
and with the help of his nephew (the present Earl Temple) 
bought back and reinstated many of the dispersed heirlooms. 
By devoting his life to this object, and by a steady fulfilment 
of the duties of the high offices to which he was successively 
appointed, the last Duke of Buckingham and Chandos earned the 
admiration of all and the gratitude of many. 

By his first wife he left three daughters, of whom the eldest, 
Lady Mary Morgan Grenville, succeeded to Stowe and the title 
of Baroness Kinloss, while the Earldom of Temple passed to his 
nephew, Mr. W. Stephen Gore Langton. The dukedom became 
extinct. After the Duke's death his widowed Duchess and second 
wife (Countess Temple's sister) made a voyage round the world, 
and was well known to Americans during the Columbus Fetes 
at Chicago. 

An account of the beauties of Stowe would fill volumes, but 
here only the salient features can be described. A perfectly 
straight avenue — two miles in length — leads from Buckingham 
to the principal entrance, the Corinthian Arch, sixty feet high. 
From this arch is obtained a magnificent view of the south front 
of the house (a mile farther on), and of the Park, with its 

* See Note, page 348. 







THE STATE DINING-ROOM, STOWE, SHOWING TAPESTRIES 



339 



340 



Stowe 



stretches of green land, its gentle undulations, and its masses 
of trees. Here and there giant beeches (from which Bucks, as 
some say, derives its name) stand alone like forest kings. A 
winding drive leads eastward from the Arch, eventually joining 
an avenue four miles in length. 

The Gardens — four hundred acres in extent — even in their 
neglected state are a marvel. Stowe Gardens from a distance look 

like "a vast grove adorned 
with obelisks, temples, and 
towers.'' Kent, "the father 
of modern gardening," was re- 
sponsible for the earliest efforts 
of Lord Cobham, who dis- 
covered "Capability" Brown, 
that king of landscape garden- 
ers. From a humble post at 
Stowe, Brown rose until he 
was head gardener at Windsor, 
and had discovered the "capa- 
bilities " of many of the old 
historic places. It was he who 
first planned the sunk fence 
which encloses Stowe Gardens, 
yet does not mar the view. Walpole conjectured it was from 
the surprise expressed by common people at this unexpected bar- 
rier that it derived its name of "ha-ha ! " 

The path westward from the Ionic pavilions, which form 
the Bell Gate entrance, leads to the Hermitage, the Temple of 
Venus, the Queen's Statue, and the Boycott Pavilions. These 
pavilions are on a height overlooking the Oxford Bridge, 
whence the road leads to the Oxford Lodge, designed by Van- 
brugh, the architect of Blenheim Palace, the home of Consuelo, 




THE GRENVILLE COLUMN 




341 



342 



Stowe 




Duchess of Marlborough. On the east is a Doric arch leading to 
the " Elysian Fields," where, in quiet, sequestered grove and by 
the placid waters of the stream, rise "storied urn and animated 
bust " in honour of the illustrious dead. This Doric arch was 
built in honour of Princess Amelia, who visited Stowe in 1770. 
Walpole formed one of the party invited to meet the royal guest. 

In a letter to George 
Montague, written on 
his return to Straw- 
berry Hill, Walpole 
says : " Every acre 
brings to one's mind 
some instance of the 
parts or pedantry, of 
the taste or want of 
taste, of the ambition 
or love of fame or 
greatness, or miscar- 
riages of those that have inhabited, decorated, planned, and visited 
this place. Pope, Congreve, Vanbrugh, Kent, Gibbs, Lord Cob- 
ham, Lord Chesterfield, the mob of nephews, the Lyttletons, 
Grenvilles, Wests, Leonidas Glover, the late Prince of Wales, the 
King of Denmark, Princess Amelia, and the proud monuments of 
Lord Chatham's services, now enshrined there, then anathema- 
tised there, now again commanding there, with the Temple of 
Friendship, like the Temple of Janus, sometimes open to war and 
sometimes shut up in factious cabals — all these images crowd 
upon one's memory and add visionary personages to the charming 
scenes that are so enriched with fanes and temples that the real 
prospects are little less than visions themselves. . . . Stowe 
recalls the idolatrous and luxurious vales of Daphne and Tempe." 
A little north of the house stands the "Temple of Concord 



OXFORD LODGE 




343 



344 



Stowe 



and Victory," built in 1762 to celebrate the conclusion of the war, 
and designed by Kent and Barri after the celebrated " Maison 
Carree" at Nismes. Close by is the Queen's Building, and 
farther on the Temples of Friendship, British Worthies, etc. 
But one of the most fascinating buildings is the Gothic Temple, 
which Walpole said he " heretically adored. By some unusual 

inspiration Gibbs 
had made it pure 
and venerable ; 
the style had a 
propensity to the 
Venetian or 
Mosque -Gothic, 
and the great 
c 1 u m n near 
(Lord Cobham's 
Pillar) put one in 
mind of the Place 
of St. Mark." It 
is a triangular yellowish-red building, picturesquely situated on 
a height overlooking the lake and the Palladian Bridge. It is 
surrounded by fine cedars, and from the highest tower (70 feet) 
can be seen views of three counties. The principal room is cir- 
cular, and the dome is ornamented with the armorial bearings of 
the Temple family from the Saxon Earls of Leicester down to 
Hester, Countess Temple. 

Stowe House is entered by the North Hall, where we see 
the famous Reynolds on our right ; then open doors lead us to 
the Marble Saloon, considered one of the finest specimens of such 
architecture in England : in shape oval, and sixty feet high, with 
a richly decorated dome, supported by sixteen scagliola columns, 
and, above the cornice of bacchantes and satyrs, a magnificent 




" TEMPLE OF CONCORD AND VICTORY," STOWE. CEDARS PLANTED BY 
QUEEN VICTORIA AND THE PRINCE CONSORT IN 1848 




345 



346 Stowe 

piece of alto-relievo, representing a Roman triumph and sacrifice, 
and containing three hundred figures four feet high. 

Through the beautiful Drawing-room, with its white marble 
mantelpiece, porphyry pilasters, and painted ceiling, we pass to 
the State Dining-room, 72 feet in length, and hung with priceless 
tapestry. 

Corresponding with it in size, we find the Library on the 
other side of the Marble Saloon. It is a beautiful gallery, and 
was a favourite sitting-room of the Comte de Paris's daughter, the 
Princess Helene, now Duchess d'Aosta. It was in this long 
gallery, overlooking the lake, that, eighty-nine years ago, took 
place a scene (often described by the second Duke of Buck- 
ingham) between Louis Philippe, ''the King of the Barricades," 
and Louis XVIll. " One day, while the royal family were seated 
together in the library, the conversation turned on events then 
enacting on the other side of the Channel, upon which Louis 
Philippe, recollecting his own position with the revolutionists, 
threw himself on his knees and begged pardon of his royal uncle 
for having ever worn the tricoloured cockade." 

The famous library of Thomas Grenville had been intended 
for this room as a gift to the Duke. But the testator changed 
his mind — possibly he feared his relative's impending ruin, and 
within a few m.onths of his death (at the advanced age of 91, 
in 1846) he, by a codicil to his will, bequeathed his entire library 
— then valued at ^50,000 — to the nation. This was the most 
munificent gift — with the exception of George IV. 's — ever made 
to the British Museum. 

The Chapel, with cedar wainscotting and some fine pieces 
of Grinling Gibbons's carving, the Music-room, copied from the 
Loggia of Raphael at Rome, the State Bedroom and Dressing- 
room, are also well worth a visit. Part of the cedar wainscotting 
in the Chapel came from a Spanish prize and was presented by 




347 



348 Stowe 

the Earl of Bath to the Cornish Grenvilles to fit up a Chapel on 
their property. Sir Bevil Grenville, killed at Lansdowne in the 
Civil Wars, belonged to this branch of the Grenville family. 
When Stowe in Cornvv^all was pulled down, Lord Cobham 
purchased this cedar wainscotting for the Chapel he was building 
in his palace. The ceiling is copied from the Chapel Royal, St. 
James's. The colours of the First Provisional Battalion of Militia 
(which, under the command of the first Duke of Buckingham, 
volunteered for service with Wellington), placed in this Chapel, 
were not sold in 1848. 

Since the tenancy of the. Comtesse de Paris expired, Stowe 
has been shut up, tenantless and deserted. But, in spite of 
desolation, the shadow of past grandeur lingers yet, and in all 
seasons the Park and gardens are beautiful. Especially beautiful 
are they in spring, when the woods are carpeted with violets and 
primroses, with the delicate fronds of fern and wild tlowers 
innumerable ; but still more beautiful are they in autumn, when 
the great beeches glow in wealth of October colouring, and the 
breast-high bracken shines as burnished gold against the gnarled 
trunks and the tangle of bramble and hawthorn. 

NOTES 

Since this article was written Lady Kinloss, with her children, has taken up 
her residence in one wing of her beautiful inheritance. 

It is just about fifty years since the sale at Stowe, which lasted from August 
14th until October, 1848. The mere catalogue of its priceless treasures fills a 
substantial volume. The Duke of Buckingham's collection of Majolica or Raf- 
faelle ware, silver plate, valuable china, curios, and beautiful furniture was 
famous. But the prices obtained then were quite insignificant compared with 
what such works of art would realise now. For instance, contrast the many 
thousand guineas paid for an historic escritoire at a famous sale of more recent 
years with the mere 2ji^ guineas given, after a spirited bidding, for a beautiful 
marqueterie cabinet purchased for Baron Meyer Rothschild. On the centre door 



StOWe 349 

panel an exquisite relief in silver-gilt of Bacchus and Ariadne was surmounted 
by figures of Cupids, whose bodies were each composed of a lusus naturae of 
pearl. 

The unequalled Majolica ware belonging to the Duchess's Drawing-room — 
until the Queen's visit the State Bedroom —sold for ;!^5i6, a Dresden tea service 
for £,32, a complete Derby dessert service for ^6. 3, whilst a magnificent 
specimen of Majolica ware, a cistern adorned with festoons and lions' heads, 
which had been for years in the Grenville family, passed to the Deepdene 
Collection. 

At the time of the Queen's visit, the State Gallery or Dining-room was 
decorated by five very fine specimens of tapestry representing, respectively, the 
triumphs of Diana, Mars, Venus, Bacchus, and Ceres. The State Dressing-room 
was hung with Brussels tapestry presented by subscription to Lord Cobham and 
other officers who distinguished themselves under Marlborough, the subjects 
being the Siege of Lille and the Battle of Wynendad Wood. At that time 
(1843) there stood in a niche in the Music-room an antique white marble statue 
of Venus rising from the sea, which had been found in excavating the Baths of 
Agrippa at Rome and brought to England by the Marquis of Chandos. This 
statue, commonly known as "The Marine Venus," was greatly admired by the 
Queen when she visited Stowe. With great regret her Majesty heard of the 
compulsory sale, and at once commissioned Mr. Gruner to buy this truly beauti- 
ful work of art, which was presented to Prince Albert as a birthday gift. 
Another treasure in this room was an antique white marble chimaera with an 
ancient testudo or lyre supported on the wings of a dove, found in a tomb close 
to the Villa Adrian. 

In the adjoining Library, besides the valuable collection of books, were two 
immense globes by Dudley Adam, and a magnificent chronometer surmounted 
by an orrery. This was a wonderful piece of mechanism and accurately por- 
trayed the movements of the planets, etc. Only three specimens of this delicate 
clockwork were then in existence — one in the Tuileries, another formerly at 
Carlton House, and this one, purchased by the Duke for 300 guineas and sold for 
63 guineas. 

In the State Drawing-room, where the curtains and covers were of richest 
velvet from the Doge's Palace at Venice, were some remarkably fine ormolu can- 
delabra (said to have been presented to Madame de Pompadour by Louis XV.), 
which were sold for 35 guineas. Here also was the famous ottoman made from 
the cover of Tippoo Sahib's State Palanquin or elephant howdah, worked in gold 
and silver thread with spangles, and adorned with Tippoo's emblem — the tiger 
stripes. On this divan were placed the sword and dagger, richly encrusted with 
jewels, which had belonged to Hyder Ali and were found in the palace at Ser- 
ingapatam. These trophies had been presented to the Duke by the Marquis 



;5o 



Sto>x)e 



(afterwards Duke) of Wellington, and at the sale were bought for the donor at 
24 guineas. The great Duke visited Stowe in 1829. 

Until the Queen's visit the State Bedroom — especially prepared for the 
royal guests — had been known as the Rembrandt Room, on account of the many 
pictures by that master which it contained. Among them we may name the 
famous picture of "The Unmerciful Servant," which realised ;^230o, the 
highest price of any in the collection, and "The Burgomaster," ^850, while 
"Judas Casting Down the Thirty Pieces of Silver " fetched 65 guineas. The centre 
of the painted ceiling by Valdre represents Venus at her toilet. The curtains and 
covers of the chairs and soHxs were worked in silver on a ground of yellow 
China silk. The mirror between the windows was enclosed by a magnificent 
carved and gilt frame (another treasure from the Doge's Palace), and the clock 
of marqueterie, with ornaments of ormolu and ten feet in height, had once been 
royal property at 'Versailles. At the sale, the State Bedstead, beautifully carved 
and gilt, with all its rich hangings and embroidered coverlet, fetched only 86 
guineas, though altogether it must have cost at least ten times that sum. 

In the North or Entrance Hall, in the second Duke's time, hung the presenta- 
tion portrait of James II., given by his Majesty to Sir Richard Temple, a 
portrait of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, by Sir Peter Lely, and a 
'Velasquez, representing the Ambassador from Spain to James I. 

It is interesting to compare the value of pictures in those days with the 
amount given in modern times for a Millais or a Leighton. The four full-length 
portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds realised only 690 guineas. The amount paid 
for each was as follows: The portrait of Maria, Marchioness of Buckingham, 
with her son, the first Duke, 130 guineas; the Right Honourable C. Grenville in 
robes of state, 160 guineas; the Marquis of Granby, 200 guineas; and George, 
Marquis of Buckinghamshire, holding his son. Earl Temple, whom the Mar- 
chioness is about to draw, 200 guineas. 

The highest prices (with the exception of the Rembrandt) were realised by 
Salvator Rosa's "Finding of Moses" (p^ioso) and Cuyp's "Philip Baptising the 
Eunuch" {£i'i43), whilst "James, Duke of Monmouth," by Kneller, sold for 11 
guineas, Holbein's "Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk," for ^50, and the pre- 
sentation portrait of "Christian VII. of Denmark," by Angelica Kaufmann, for 
7 guineas. Vandyck's full-length "Countess of Dorset " fetched only 19 guineas. 

Among the historical curios figured the "Lock of Queen Mary's Hair" (wife 
of Louis XII. and sister of Henry VIII.), the sash of the Young Pretender taken at 
Culloden, an inkstand of Sicilian jasper which had belonged to Sixtus V., and the 
famous miniature of Charles II. given by the Merry Monarch to Lord Beauchamp. 

A magnificent octangular hall lantern with an ormolu frame and glass richly 
painted with coats of arms, showing the Grenville-Chandos descent from Henry 
VII. and Catherine of Valois, wife of Henry V., which had cost ^^400, was 



Stowe 351 

bought by Mr. Richards for Mr. Churchill's hotel at Tunbridge for a mere song — 
31 guineas. The name of the actual purchaser occasioned considerable surprise. 
A few had bid against Mr. Richards, thinking that, as a tenant of the Boycott 
Pavilion in Stowe Park, he was buying in for the family this lantern, which had 
so special an interest for them. It was among the things subsequently repur- 
chased, and now hangs on the grand staircase at Chandos House. 

Among the antiquities collected by the Duke (then Marquis of Chandos) 
during his residence in Italy were the terra-cotta figure of Apollo sitting (which 
he himself saw dug out of the ruins at Pompeii in 1807) and a square table on a 
lyre-shaped stand composed of antique slabs, procured with great difficulty by 
the Marquis from the Baths of Tivoli, as well as many very beautiful examples of 
Benvenuto Cellini's work and cinque-cento jewels, etc. In the story of this sad 
ruin which overtook "proud Buckingham," there is one bright and pleasant 
event which must not be passed over. 

The Duke had always been regarded as the farmer's friend and the defender 
of agricultural interests in Parliament. To mark their appreciation of his efforts 
on their behalf, the agriculturists of Buckinghamshire had presented the Duke 
with a magnificent testimonial of silver plate — a massive centrepiece comprising 
three figures with branches for thirteen lights, surrounded by six figures of cattle 
and horses, the whole weighing 2200 ounces and valued at £']']2. This had 
been included in the catalogue. On the nineteenth day of the sale an announce- 
ment was made which was received with cheers. This valuable testimonial had 
been purchased by subscription among the county agriculturists and presented 
to the family. 

But on the twentieth day no such happy announcement was made regarding 
the other triumph of the silversmith's art, — "The Death of Sir Bevil Grenville at 
the Battle of Lansdowne Hill, near Bath, in 1643," — -a beautiful centrepiece 
weighing nearly 1600 ounces, and valued at a little over ten shillings the ounce 
— ^828:18. 

Of the bronzes, after a spirited bidding, the celebrated copy of the Laocoon, 
original size, was bought by the Duke of Hamilton for £"^6-]. 

In the old State Dressing-room had stood in former days a beautiful Japan 
chest inlaid with mother-of-pearl, part of the spoils of Vigo brought home by 
Lord Cobham after storming that city in 17 19. This went to Holland House for 
.18 guineas. 

An ancient marble sarcophagus (found on the road to Tivoli by the Duke's 
grandfather), three feet long and twenty inches high, surmounted by a sort of 
mattress on which reclined a boy in the coils of a snake, was bought for 31 
guineas by Mr. Norton, who was offered three times that amount for it soon 
afterwards. The model in mother-of-pearl of the famous porcelain pagoda at 
Nankin realised ^4. 7, while the beautiful table of Florentine mosaic, white 



352 Stowe 

marble, and alabaster, Inlaid with designs of birds and flowers, changed hands at 
45 guineas. 

Only two tables similar to this had ever been made — one at Warwick 
Castle, the other at Charlecote. 

An entire geological and mineralogical collection, which had cost the Duke 
^4000, was bought by the Jardin des Plantes for about a twelfth of that sum. 
The Duke's collection of engravings and prints was sold separately in London, 
and in the thirty-days' sale at Phillips's ss,ooo realised ^6700. 

The famous Chandos portrait of Shakespeare, supposed to have been painted 
by the poet's contemporary, Burbage, the actor, was bought by the Earl of 
Ellesmere for £}^^, and is now to be seen in the Bridgewater House Collection. 

When Buckingham kept open house — then were the days of the great 
landed proprietors — there were no great millionaires in such profusion as now, 
and money had more purchasing power. 

We have seen how portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Lely, now almost 
priceless, then sold for a mere hundred or two hundred guineas. But if the 
value of works of art was lower, that of land was far higher. Many farms then 
changed hands for four times their present worth. One can best judge of the 
difference in the value of money and of works of art by remembering tnat 
the entire proceeds of the forty-five-days' sale at Stowe only exceeded by ]£,<^- 
562 the price (^70,000) paid for Raphael's " Madonna degli Ansidei," purchased 
from the Blenheim Palace Collection in 1885 for the National Gallery. 

[Certain of the photographs illustrating this article are by Mr. L, Varney, Photographer, Buckingham.] 



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